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PBE-HISTORIO TIMES.
\ts,A
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2015
https://archive.org/details/b2130936x
\L>.L15
PRE-HISTORIC TIMES,
AS ILLUSTRATED BY
ANCIENT REMAINS,
AND THE
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF MODERN SAVAGES.
BT
JOHN LUBBOCK, F.E.S.,
VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE LINN.® AN SOCIETY ; FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL, ZOOLOGICAL,
AND OTHER SOCIETIES \ AND PRESIDENT OF THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,
14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON;
AND
20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.
1 8 6 5.
\ The Right of Translation is Reserved .]
Iomha
HERTFORD:
PRIXTEll BY 8TKPHEX AUSTIX.
PREFACE.
TN this book I present to the public some essays
on Pre-historic Archaeology, part of "which have
appeared in the “ Natural History Keview,’’ viz.,
that on
The Danish Shell-mounds, in October, 1861.
The Swiss Lake-dwellings, in January, 1862.
The Flint Implements of the Drift, in July, 1862.
North American Archaeology, in January, 1863.
Cave-men, in July, 1864.
Messrs. Williams and Norgate suggested to me to
republish these articles in a separate form, and I was
further encouraged to do so, by the fact that most of
them had re-appeared, either in France or America.
The conductors of the “ Annales des Sciences Na-
turelles” did me the honor to translate those on the
Danish Shell-mounds, and the Swiss Lake-dwrellings.
The latter also appeared in “Silliman’s Journal;” and
the article on American Archaeology, with the excep-
tion of the last paragraph, was reprinted in the “Smith-
sonian Eeport, for 1862.”
VI
PREFACE.
At first I only contemplated reprinting the papers
as they stood, but having, at the request of the
managers, delivered at the Royal Institution a short
course of lectures on the Antiquity of Man, it was
thought desirable to introduce the substance of these,
so as to give the work a more complete character.
My object has been to elucidate, as far as possible,
the principles of pre-historic archaeology ; laying spe-
cial stress upon the indications which it affords of the
condition of man in primeval times. The tumuli, or
burial mounds, the peat bogs of this and other coun-
tries, the Kjokkenmoddings or shell - mounds of
Denmark, the Lake-habitations of Switzerland, the
bone-caves, and the river-drift gravels, are here our
principal sources of information.
In order to qualify myself, as far as possible, for
the task which I have undertaken, I have visited not
only our three great museums in London, Dublin,
and Edinburgh, but also many on the Continent ; as,
for instance, those at Copenhagen, Stockholm, Lund,
Flensburg, Aarhuus, Lausanne, Basle, Berne, Zurich,
Yverdon, Paris, Abbeville, etc., besides many private
collections of great interest, of which I may particu-
larly specify those of M. Boucher de Perthes, Messrs.
Christy, Evans, Bateman, Forel, Schwab, Troyon, Gil-
PREFACE.
Vll
lieron, Uhlmann, Desor, and lastly, the one recently
made by MM. Christy and Lartet in the bone-caves of
the Dordogne.
Sometimes alone, and sometimes in company with
Messrs. Prestwich and Evans, I have made numerous
visits to the valley of the Somme, and have examined
almost every gravel pit and section from Amiens down
to the sea. In 1861, with Mr. Busk, and again in
1863, I went to Denmark, in order to have the ad-
vantage of seeing the Kjokkenmoddings themselves.
Under the guidance of Professor Steenstrup 1 visited
several of the most celebrated shell-mounds, particu-
larly those at Havelse, Bilidt, Meilgaard, and Fanne-
rup. I also made myself familiar with so much of the
Danish language as was necessary to enable me to read
the various reports drawn up by the Kjokkenmodding
committee, consisting of Professors Steenstrup, Wor-
saae, and Eorchhammer. Last year I went to the
north of Scotland, to examine some similar shell-
mounds discovered by Dr. Gordon, of Birnic, on the
shores of the Moray Firth, which appear, however, to
belong to a much later period than those of Denmark.
In 1862 M. Morlot very kindly devoted himself to
me for nearly a month, during which time we not only
visited the principal museums of Switzerland, but also
yiii
PREFACE.
several of the Lake-habitations themselves, and par-
ticularly those at Morges, Thonon, Wauwyl, Moossee-
dorf, and the Pont de Thiele. In addition to many
minor excursions, I had, finally, last spring, the
advantage of spending some time with Mr. Christy,
among the celebrated bone-caves of the Dordogne.
Thus by carefully examining the objects themselves,
and the localities in which they have been found, I
have endeavoured to obtain a more vivid and correct
impression of the facts than books, or even museums,
alone could have given.
To the more strictly archaeological part of the
work I have added a chapter on the Manners and
Customs of Modern Savages, confining myself to
those tribes which are still, or were, when first visited
by travellers, ignorant of the use of metal, and which
have been described by competent and trustworthy
observers. This account, short and incomplete as it
is, will be found, I think, to throw some light on the
remains of savage life in ages long gone by.
Fully satisfied that religion and science cannot in
reality be at variance, I have striven in the present
publication to follow out the rule laid down by the
Bishop of London, in his excellent lecture delivered
last year at Edinburgh. The man of science, says Dr.
PREFACE.
IX
Tait, ought to go on, “honestly, patiently, diffidently,
observing and storing up his observations, and carry-
ing his reasonings unflinchingly to their legitimate
conclusions, convinced that it would be treason to
the majesty at once of science and of religion if he
sought to help either by swerving ever so little from
the straight rule of truth.” *
Ethnology, in fact, is passing at present through
a phase from which other Sciences have safely
m emerged, and the new views with reference to the
Antiquity of Man, though still looked upon with
distrust and apprehension, will, I doubt not, in a
few years, be regarded with as little disquietude as
are now those discoveries in astronomy and geology,
which at one time excited even greater opposition.
I have great pleasure in expressing my gratitude
to many archaeological friends for the liberal manner
in which their museums have been thrown open
to me, and for much valuable assistance in other
ways. My sincere thanks are due to Professor
Steenstrup for many of the figures by which the work
is illustrated. Others, through the kindness of Sir
W. R. Wilde, Mr. Franks, and Dr. Thurnam, have
* Lecture on Science and Revelation, delivered at Edinburgh. See The Time*,
November 7th, 1864.
b
X
PREFACE.
been placed at my disposal by the Society of Anti-
quaries, and the Eoyal Irish Academy. To Professor
Steenstrup, Dr. Keller, M. Morlot, and Professor
Eiitimeyer, I am indebted for much information on
the subject of their respective investigations. Finally,
Mr. Busk, Mr. Evans, and Professor Tyndall have
had the great kindness to read many of my proofs,
and I am indebted to them for various valuable
suggestions.
Chiselhcrst,
February, 1865.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
ON THE USE OF BRONZE IN ANCIENT TIMES.
Division of Pro-historic archaeology into four periods — First discovery of metal
— Copper — Tin — Iron — Allusions to bronze by ancient writers — Finds of the Iron
age — Tiefenau — Nydam — Thorsbjerg — Finds of the Bronze age — Bronze and iron
arms not found together — Objects characteristic of the Bronze age — Bronze
celts — Modes of handling — Bronze swords — Bronze daggers, spear-heads, arrows, '
fish-hooks, sickles — Bronze knives — Razor knives — Bronze bracelets — Bronze
pins — Gold ornaments — Character of ornamentation — Tumulus of Treenlioi —
Dress in the Bronze age — Dress of a chief in the Bronze age — Mode of burial.
CHAPTER II.
THE BRONZE AGE.
Similarity of bronze implements in different countries — Bronze implements
not of Roman origin — Referred by some archaeologists to the Phoenicians — Phoe-
nician voyages — Himilco — Pytheas — Thule supposed by Nilsson to be Norway —
Phoenician colonies and commerce — Bronze composed of copper and tin — Tin
obtained from Cornwall — Amber from German Ocean — Baal worship in Northern
Europe — Question still doubtful — Bronze age civilisation — Bronze age archi-
tecture— Stonehenge — Abury — Silbury Hill more ancient than the Roman road
— Stone circles — Stone circles, etc., in India — Stone circles in Palestine and
Algeria.
CHAPTER III.
THE USE OF STONE IN ANCIENT TIMES.
The great abundance of stone implements — Stone used after discovery of metal
Material preferred for stone implements — Fracture of flint — Flint flakes —
Stone hatchets— Scrapers— The small axes of the Shell-mounds— Chisels— Spear-
heads Daggers — Slingstones — Arrow-heads — Manufacture of flint implements
Rone implements — Danish coastfinds Flintflnds.
XU
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IY.
TUMULI.
Pre-historie tumuli — Tumuli mentioned in ancient history — Resemblance
between the chambered tumuli and the dwellings of some Arctic nations — Objects
buried with the dead not always intended for actual use — Tabulated interments
— Models of implements sometimes buried — Barrows of different periods —
Difficulty of determining the period to which a barrow belongs — Statistics —
Treatment of the corpse — Description of a Danish tumulus — Of a barrow at
West Kennet — Stone implements and pottery from the tumuli at West Kennet —
Tumuli of modern savages — Sepulchral pottery — Bones of animals found in
tumuli — Sepulchral feasts — Sacrifices — Pre-historie races of men.
CHAPTER Y.
THE LAKE-HABITATIONS OF SWITZERLAND.
Lake -habitations mentioned by Herodotus — Crannoges of Ireland — Pile-
dwellings in various parts of Europe — Pile-dwellings still used in various coun-
tries— Pile-dwellings found in most of the Swiss lakes — Structure of the huts —
Attempt to make a census — Construction of the platforms — Description of the
remains at Wauwyl — Weapons and implements of the lake-dwellers — Axes —
Knives — Arrow-heads — Spindle-whorls — Flint flakes, etc. — Material used for
stone implements — Bone implements — Pottery — Manufactures of the Stone period
— Comparison of the piles belonging to the Stone and Bronze ages — The fauna of
the Swiss lake-dwellings — Stag — Boar — Bull — Goat — Sheep — Dog — Table of the
animal remains — Birds — Absence of the rat, mouse, and cat — Comparison of
bones belonging to wild and domesticated races — Races of oxen — Absence of
extinct species — The aurochs and elk, ibex and bear — General character of the
fauna — The flora of the Pfahlbauten — Scarcity of human bones — Lake-habita-
tions of the Bronze age — Objects of bronze — Uso of pile -buildings as magazines
— Sacred lakes — Inhabitants of the Pfahlbauten — Character of the objects found
in different lake-villages — Statistics — Comparison of the different lake-villages
— Abandonment of the lake-villages — Chronology.
CHAPTER VI.
THE DANISH KJOKKENMODDINGS OR SHELL-MOUNDS.
Shell-mounds at first supposed to be raised beaches — Description of the shell-
mounds — Distribution of tho Shell-mounds — Shell-mounds in Scotland-*— Shell-
mounds in other countries — Flora of the shell-mounds — Fauna of the shell--
mounds Fish Birds — Mammals — Absence of certain bones — Mutilation of
certain bones Shell-mound builders not mere summer visitors — Flint imple-
CONTENTS.
Xlll
ments from the shell-mounds — Mode of life indicated by the shell-mounds — The
F uegians — The relation of the shell-mounds to the tumuli — The opinions of
Steenstrup and Worsaae — The flint implements of the shell-mounds — The
scarcity of well-made flint implements in the shell-mounds — Antiquity of the
shell-mounds.
CHAPTER VII.
NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY.
Bibliography — Implements — The use of copper — Traces of ancient copper mines
— Pottery — Ornaments — Earthworks — Defensive enclosures — Sacred and Mis-
cellaneous enclosures — Earthworks in the Scioto valley — Earthworks at Circle -
ville — Aztalan — Modem earthworks — Sepulchral mounds — Ancient modes of
burial — Sacrificial mounds — The contents of the sacrificial mounds — The Grave
Creek mound — Temple mounds — Animal mounds — General appearance — In-
scriptions— Wampum — The mound-builders — Gigantic earthworks — Traces of
ancient agriculture — Antiquity of the ancient remains — Condition of the bones —
American Forests — Indication of four periods — Man and the mastodon — Dr.
Douler’s calculation.
CHAPTER VIII.
CAVE-MEN.
Cave-bear — Cave-lion — Mammoth and woolly-haired rhinoceros — Irish elk —
Reindeer — Aurochs — Erus — Value of cave-evidence — Caves in the Dordogne —
Absence of domestic animals — Flint implements — Absence of polished imple-
ments— Kude drawings and sculptures — Habits of the cave-dwellers — The Belgian
caves — Kent’s Hole — Brixham Cave — Sicilian caves — Gibraltar Cave — Aurignac
— Wokoy Hole — Cave-men.
CHAPTER IX.
THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
M. Boucher de Perthes — Messrs. Prestwich and Evans — Specimen discovered
in the last century — Mr. Frere’s discovery in 1800 — Similar discoveries in other
countries — Scepticism of geologists — The questions at issue — Evidence derivable
from the flints themselves — The forgeries — Peculiarities of tho drift implements
— Drift implements never polished — Absence of human bones — Causes of the
scarcity of human bones — Contemporaneity of the mammalian remains — The
Somme valley — St. Acheul — Organic remains — Mineralogical contents of the
river-drift gravels — Objections to the proposed theory — Fauna of the river-drift
gravels — Climate of the river-drift period — Modes of accounting for the change
of climate — Absence of marine remains — Inapplicability of cataclysms — Altera-
tion of the river level owing to the excavation of the valley — Loess — Fauna
of the low level gravels — Peat — Recapitulation — Lapse of time.
x; v
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN — continued.
Varieties of man represented on ancient Egyptian sculptures — The vegetation
of Denmark — The cone of the Tinicrc — The valley of the Thiele — The valley of
the Nile — Mr. Horner’s Egyptian researches — The age of the Mississippi delta
Geological changes in the Quaternary period — The Wealden valley — Time The
Engis skull— The Neanderthal skull— Markings on bones from the Pliocene beds
of St. Prest — Miocene man.
CHAPTER XI.
MODERN SAVAGES.
Modern savages — No evidence of degradation — Hottentots : Dress ; houses ;
implements; methods of killing game; metallurgy; character — Vcddahsot Ceylon
— Andaman Islanders — Australians : Food ; clothing ; ornaments ; rafts ; imple-
ments ; hammers ; knives ; spears ; throwing-stick ; boomerang ; lire ; polygamy ;
superstition ; burial ; numbers — Tasmanians — Feegeeans : Food ; weapons ;
houses ; religion ; canoes ; pottery ; games ; agriculture ; women ; clothes ;
tattoo ; burial ; superstition ; cannibalism ; murder — The Maories : Food ; dress ;
ornaments ; houses ; fortifications ; weapons ; canoes ; burial ; music ; character ;
religion; cannibalism — Tahitians: Implements; fish-hooks; nets; baskets;
mats ; cloth ; dress ; ornaments ; houses ; canoes ; music ; furniture ; weapons ;
food ; fire ; cookery ; ava ; a chief’s dinner ; solitary meals ; surgery ; burial ;
burial-places; religion; character — The Tongans.
CHAPTER XII.
modern savages — Continued.
The Esquimaux : Dwellings ; cookery ; food ; fire ; implements ; weapons ; bows
and arrows ; spears ; harpoons ; modes of hunting and fishing ; sledges ; boats ;
the kajak and umiak; dress; ornaments; music; games; religion; burial;
character — North American Indians : Dress ; ornaments ; the practice of head-
moulding ; religion ; marriage ; character ; cruelty ; infanticide ; implements ;
weapons ; canoes ; fire ; dwellings ; agriculture ; food ; burial — The Paraguay
Indians : Weapons ; huts ; habits ; religion ; infanticide — Patagonians : Huts ;
dress ; weapons ; food ; burial ; religion — Fuegians : Appearance ; food and habits ;
cannibalism ; absence of religion ; ignorance of pottery ; dress ; fire.
CHAPTER XIII.
modern savages — Conclusion.
The skilfulness of savages — Arrows — Harpoons — Needles — Art — Statues —
Differences in the Stone age — Different lines of civilisation — Differences in wea-
jxms — Isolation of savages — Independent inventions — Differences in habits
CONTENTS.
XV
Different uses of the dog — 'Fire — Different methods of burial — Curious customs —
Differences in prevalent sounds — Different ideas of virtue — Deification of white
men by savages — Social position of women — Savages and children — Moral in-
feriority of savages — Intellectual inferiority of savages — Deficiencies in numera-
tion— Absence of religion among many savage tribes — Belief in witchcraft —
General inferiority of Savages.
CHAPTER XLY.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
The primitive condition of man — Unity of the human race — Natural selection
applied to man — The influence of mind — Increase of happiness indicated by
increase of numbers — Sufferings of savages — Self-inflicted sufferings — The
blessings of civilisation — The diminution of suffering — The diminution of sin —
The advantages of science — The future.
DESCBIPTION OF THE FIGURES.
1. Copper ? celt from Waterford. It is 6 inches long, 3£ wide at the broader
end, and If at the smaller, which is about 1-lGth thick.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 363.
2. Winged celt, or Paalstave, from Ireland. The stops are but slightly
developed.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 373.
3. Socketed celt from Ireland, one-third of the actual size.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 385.
4-6. The three principal types of celts, and the manner in which they are
supposed to have been handled.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 367.
7- Copper ? celt from Ireland, one-half of the actual size.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 363.
8. Half of a celt mould from Ireland. It is of mica slate, 6J inches long, 4
wide, and presents upon the surface the apertures by which it was adjusted
to the other half.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 91.
9. Decorated celt from Ireland. It is 8J inches long, 4 wide at the blade end,
and half an inch thick.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 365.
10. Simple celt from Denmark, One-third of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 178.
11. Ornamented celt from Denmark, one-tliird of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 179.
12. Socketed celt from Denmark, one-third of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 195.
13. Iron sword from a cemetery at Brighthampton in Oxfordshire, one-eighth of
the actual size.
Arclweologia, vol. xxxviii., pi. 2, fig. 1.
14. Sword from Ireland. It is 23J inches long, If wide in the centre of the
blade, which is margined by a grooved feather edge.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 444.
15. Sword from Sweden, one-fourth of the actual size.
Nilsson’s Skandinaviska Nordens Ur-invanare, pi. 1, fig. 7.
16. Sword from Switzerland, one-fifth of the actual size.
In the museum of Col. Schwab. Mitt. Ant. Ges. in Zurich, Bd. xii. PI. 3.
17. Sword from Concise on the Lake of Neufchatel, one-fourth of actual size.
In the museum of Col. Schwab. Mitt. Ant. Ges. in Zurich, Bd. xiii. II. 3.
18. Sword from Scandinavia.
Atlas for Nordisk Oldkyndighed, pi. iv., fig. 42.
19. Sword from Denmark, found in the Treenhoi tumulus.
Afb. af. Danske Oldsager og Mindesmserker, H. 5.
XV111
description of the figures.
20. Sword from Denmark, one-sixth of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 121.
21. Sword from Denmark, one-sixth of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 123.
22. Hilt of sword from Denmark, one fourth of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobehavn. No. 128.
23. Hilt of sword from Denmark, one-fourth of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 127-
24. Bronze dagger blade from Ireland. It is 10J inches long, by 2J wide. The
four rivets by which it was fastened to the handle are still in situ.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 448.
25. Bronze dagger from Ireland, two-thirds of the actual size.
Cat. Royal Irish Academy, page 458.
2G. Bronze dagger blade from Ireland, one-third of the actual size.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 463.
27. Bronze spear-head from Ireland. It is 11J inches long by 1£ broad.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 499.
28. Bronze spear-head from Ireland. It is 13J inches long by 2} broad.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 496.
29. Bronze knife from Denmark, one-half of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 167.
30. Bronze knife from Denmark, one-third of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 169.
31. Bronze knife from Denmark, one -third of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 166.
32. Bronze knife from the Lake-village at Estavayer, on the Lake of Neuf-
chatel, one-half of the actual size.
Keller. Mit. der Antiq. Ges. in Zurich, Bd. xiii. Abth. 2, n. 3, pi. v.
fig. 19.
33. Bronze knife from the Lake-village at Estavayer, on the Lake of Neuf-
chatel, one-half of the actual size.
Keller. Mit der Antiq. Ges. in Zurich, Bd. xiii. Abth. 2, H. 3, pi. v.
fig. 20.
34. Razor-knife from Denmark, one half of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 173.
35. Razor-knife from Denmark, one-half of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 172.
36. Razor-knife from Denmark, one-half of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 171.
37. Razor-knife from Denmark, one-half of the actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 175.
38. Small bronze knife in a leather case, from Denmark, two-thirds of the actual
size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 164.
39. Bronze knife, actual size.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 170.
40. Bronze bracelet from Cortaillod on the Lake of Neufchatel, one-third of the
actual size.
Troyon’s Habitations Lacustres, pi. xi., fig. 28.
41. Bronze bracelet from Cortaillod on the Lake of Neufchatel, one-third of the
actual size.
Troyon, l.c. pi. xi., fig. 18.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.
XLX
42—15. Bronze hair-pins from the Swiss Lakes, one-half of the actual size.
Keller, l.c. Zweiter Bericht, pi. 3.
46. Bronze awl from the Swiss Lakes, actual size.
Keller, l.c. Zweiter Bericht, pi. 3.
47. Bronze needle, actual size.
Keller, l.c. Zweiter Bericht, pi. 3.
48. Bronze stud, one-half of the actual size.
Keller, l.c. Zweiter Bericht, pi. 3.
49. Gold torque, consisting of a simple flat strip or band of gold, loosely twisted,
and having expanded extremities which loop into one another. It measures
51 inches across, and was found near Clonmacnoise, in Ireland.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 74.
50. Gold fibula, one-half of the actual size. The hoop is very slender, the cups
deep and conical.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 56.
51. Smooth, massive cylindrical gold ring, with ornamented ends, one-half of the
actual size.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 52.
52. Gold fibula, one-third of the actual size. The external surfaces of the cups
are decorated with circular indentations surrounding a central indented
spot. There is also an elegant pattern where the handle joins the cups. It
is 8g inches long, and weighs 33 ounces, being the heaviest now known to
exist.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 60.
53. Woollen cap, one-third of the actual size. Found with the bronze sword,
fig. 19, in a Danish tumulus.
Afb. af. Danske Oldsager og Mindesmserker. Madsen, H. 5.
54. Another woollen cap, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding.
55. A small comb, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding.
56. A woollen cape, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding.
57- A woollen shirt, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding.
58. A woollen shawl, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding.
59. A pair of leggings, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding.
60. Staigue Fort, in the County of Kerry.
From a model in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy.
61. Flint core or nucleus from which flakes have been struck. Jutland. One-
half of the actual size.
In my own collection.
62-4. Three views of a flint flake from a Kjokkenmodding at Fannerup in Jutland,
one-half of the actual size, a represents the bulb of percussion, which is
also shown by the shading in fig. 68.
In my own collection.
65. Arrow-shaped flake from Ireland. It is worked up at the butt end, as if
intended for a handle.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 72.
66-68. Flakes from a Danish shell-mound, actual size.
In my own collection.
69. Minute flint flake from Denmark, actual size.
In my own collection.
70. Sections of flakes, a is that of a simple triangular flake ; b is that of a large
flat flake split off the angle from which the smaller flake a had been
previously taken. Consequently the section is four-sided.
XX
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.
71. Stone celt or hatcliet. It is formed of fclstone, is 5f inches long and 2 broad.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 41.
72. Stone celt or hatchet, actual size. Found in the River Shannon. One of
the smaUest yet found in Ireland.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 45.
73. Stone celt with a wooden handle. Found in the county of Monaghan.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 46.
74. Skin scraper from Bourdeilles in the south of France, actual size. Found
by me.
75. Ditto, under side.
76-78. Skin scraper used by the modern Esquimaux of the Polar basin within
Behring’s Straits, actual size. It was fastened into a handle of fossil ivory.
In the collection of Mr. H. Christy.
79. Flint adze from the shell-mound at Meilgaard in Jutland, actual size.
Upper surface.
In my own collection.
80. Ditto, under surface.
81. Ditto, side view.
82. Modem New Zealand adze, actual size. Upper surface.
In the British Museum.
83. Ditto, under surface.
84. Ditto, side view.
The New Zealand adze is partially polished ; this is not the case with
the Danish adze, because flint naturally breaks with a smooth
surface. The projection a, in fig. 81 is accidental and owing to
some flaw in the flint. They generally have the under side as
flat as in fig. 83.
85. IIollow chisel from Denmark.
86. Spear-head from Denmark.
87. Flint dagger, one-half of the actual size. This beautiful specimen was found
in a large tumulus with a second imperfect dagger, a rude flint core, an
imperfect, crescent-shaped knife, one or two flakes, two amber beads, and
some bits of pottery. Denmark.
In my own collection.
88. A second form of flint dagger. Also from Denmark.
89. Oval toolstone.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 94.
90. Triangular flint arrow-head, actual size.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 19.
91. Indented flint arrow-head, actual size.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 20.
92. Barbed flint arrow-head, actual size.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 22.
93. Leaf-shaped flint arrow-head, actual size. Showing the gradual passage
into the spear-head.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 22.
94. Bone pin or awl from Scotland, actual size. .
95. Bone harpoon, actual size. .
Afb. af. Dansko Old og Mindesmaerker, 5 Heft.
96. A tumulus of the Stone age at Roddinge in Denmark. It contains two
chambers.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. PI. 4.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.
XXI
97. Ground plan of ditto.
98. Section of ditto.
99. Cromlech. Denmark.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobeehavn. PI. 1.
100. Tumulus.
Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Ivjobenhavn. PI. 2.
101. Ground plan of a sepulchral chamber in a large tumulus on the Island of
Moen.
Ann. for Nordiske Old Kyudighed, 185S, p. 20-1.
102. Braekycepkalic skull from the above tumulus, one-quarter of the natural
size.
103. Ditto, side view.
I am indebted for these two drawings to the kindness of my friend
Mr. Busk.
101. Interior of the sepulchral chamber in the long barrow near West Kennet in
Wiltshire.
Archceologia, vol, xxxviii., p. 105.
105. Flint scraper from the above tumulus, two-tliirds of the actual size.
Archceologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405.
106. Flint scraper from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual size.
Archoeologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405.
107. Flint flake from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual size.
Archceologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405.
108. Flint implement from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual size.
Archffiologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405.
109. Fragment of pottery from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual size.
Archceologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405.
110. Fragment of pottery from the above tumulus, actual size.
Archceologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405.
111-113. Fragments of pottery from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual
size.
Archceologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405.
111. Fragment of pottery, actual size.
Archceologia, vol. xxxviii., p, 405.
115. Urn from Flaxdale barrow. The original is 14 inches in height.
Bateman’s Ten Years’ Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills, p. 280.
116, 117. Vases from Arbor Low in Derbyshire.
Bateman’s Ten Years’ Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills, p. 283.
118. Drinking cup from Green Low.
Bateman’s Ten Years’ Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills, p. 286.
119. Crannoge in Ardakillin Lough, near Stokestown, County of Roscommon.
It is constructed of stones and oak-piling. The top lino shows the former
highest water level, the second that of the ordinary winter flood, the third
the summer level.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p. 226.
120. Swiss axe of serpentine, actual size. From Wangen on the Lake of
Constance.
In my own collection.
121. Spindle-whorl, actual size. From Wangen on the Lake of Constance.
In my own collection.
122. Bone chisel P, actual size. From Wangen on the Lake of Constance.
In my own collection.
xxn
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.
123. Piece of tissue, actual size. From Robenhausen.
In my own collection.
124. Bronze pin, actual size.
Found in a shell-mound near Elgin, and now in the museum at that
place.
125. Flint awl from Denmark, actual size.
After Worsaae.
126. Lance-head P from Denmark, actual size.
After Worsaae.
127. Lance head P from Denmark, actual size.
After Worsaae.
128. Lance-head ? from Denmark, actual size.
After Worsaae.
129. Rude flint axe from Denmark, actual size.
After Worsaae.
130. Flat stone implement of uncertain use, actual size.
From the Cave at La Madelaine.
131. Stone implement, resembling in some respects those characteristic of the
drift gravels, actual size.
From Moustier.
132. Ditto seen from the other side.
133. Ditto, side view.
134. Poniard of reindeer horn.
From the Cave at Laugerie Basse.
135. Rude flint spear-head from the drift gravel at Hoxne, one-half actual size.
After Frere. Arcliaeologia, 1800, pi. xiv.
136. Ditto, side view.
137- Another specimen.
After Frere. Archceologia, 1800, pi. xv.
138. Ditto, side view.
139. Section across the Valley of the Somme at Abbeville, after Prestwich ; the
length is reduced to one-third.
140. Section at St. Acheul near Amiens.
a. Brick earth with a few angular flints.
b. Red angular gravel.
c. Marly sand, with land and freshwater shells.
d. Grey subangular gravel, in which the flint implements are found.
e. Coffin.
f. Tomb.
141. Section taken in a pit close to the Joinville station.
b. Red angular gravel, containing a very large sandstone block.
d. Grey subangular gravel.
142. Diagram to illustrate deposit of loess and gravel.
a'. Loess corresponding to and contemporaneous with the gravel a.
b'. Loess.
c'. Loess.
1. Level of valley at period a.
2. Level of valley at period b.
3. Level of valley at present.
143. The Engis skull, viewed from above.
144. Ditto, viewed from the front.
Huxley’s Man’s Place in Nature, p. 126.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.
XX 11 1
145. The Neanderthal skull, seen from the side, one-half of the natural size.
146. Ditto, seen from tho side, natural size.
147. Ditto, seen from above, natural size,
Huxley’s Man’s Place in Nature, page 139.
The outlines from camera lucida drawings by Mr. Busk ; tho details from
the cast and from Dr. Fuhlrott’s photographs, a glabella ; b occipital
protuberance ; d lambdoidal suture.
148. Australian boomerang, one-sixth of the actual size.
149. Australian club, one-iifth of tho actual size.
150. New Zealand patoo patoo, one-fourth of the actual size.
151. Stone axe with wooden handle, one-fourth of the actual size.
152. South Sea fish-hook, one-half of the actual size.
153. Esquimaux arrow-head, actual size.
154. Esquimaux spear-head, actual size.
155. Esquimaux bone harpoon, one-third of the actual size.
156. Fuegian harpoon, one-half of the actual size.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
The three great tumuli at Upsala, popularly supposed to be those of Odin, Thor,
and Freya. ( Frontispiece .)
Diagram of Abury. (To face 'page 53.)
‘Plate I. (To face page 60 .J
Fig. 1. A flint axe from a tumulus, one -third of the actual size.
2. Another form of stone axe, with a hole for a handle, one -third of the
actual size.
3. A flint saw, one-half of the actual size.
4. A flint sword, one-sixth of the actual size.
5. A flint chisel, one-half of the actual size.
G. One of the “cores” from which the flint flakes are splintered, one-half of
the actual size.
7. One of the flakes, one -half of the actual size.
8, 9. Eude axes from the Kjokkenmodding at Havelse, one-half of the
actual size.
10. Flint axe from drift at Moulin Quignon, near Abbeville, one-half of the
actual size.
11. Flint axe from Abbeville, showing that the part stained white is parallel
to the present surfaces, and that the weathering has taken place since
the flint was worked into its present shape, one -half of the actual size.
12. Sling-stone from the Kjokkenmodding at Havelse, one - half of the
actual size.
Plate II. (To face page 2GS.J
A flint implement found near Abbeville, slightly reduced.
The artist has been so careful to present a faithful image of this
specimen, that he has even copied exactly my rough memorandum
as to the place and date of its discovery.
PRE-HISTORIC TIMES.
CHAPTER I.
ON THE USE OF BRONZE IN ANCIENT TIMES.
ITE first appearance of man in Europe dates back to a
period so remote, that neither history, nor even tra-
dition, can throw any light on his origin, or mode of life..
Under these circumstances, some have assumed the past to
probably thicken, but could never remove. Thus, the me-
morials of antiquity have been valued as monuments of
ancient skill and perseverance, but it has not been supposed
that they could be regarded as pages of ancient history ;
they have been recognized as interesting vignettes, not as
historical pictures. Some writers have assured us that, in
the words of Palgrave, “We must give it up, that speech-
less past ; whether fact or chronology, doctrine or mythology ;
whether in Europe, Asia, Africa or America ; at Thebes or
Palenque, on Lycian shore or Salisbury Plain : lost is lost ;
gone is gone for ever.” While if others, more hopefully,
have endeavoured to reconstruct the story of the past, they
have too often allowed imagination to usurp the place of
research, and written rather in the spirit of the novelist,
than in that of the philosopher.
But of late years a new branch of knowledge has arisen ;
be hidden from the present by a veil, which time would
1
DIVISION OF P RE-HISTORIC
O
AJ
a new Science lias, so to say, been born among us, which deals
with times and events far more ancient than any of those
which have yet fallen within the province of the archaeologist.
The geologist reckons not by days or by years; the whole
six thousand years, which were until lately looked on as the
sum of the world’s age, are to him but as a unit of measure-
ment in the long succession of past ages. Our knowledge of
geology is, of course, very incomplete ; on some points we
shall no doubt see reason to change our opinion, but on the
whole, the conclusions to which it points are as definite as
those of zoology, chemistry, or any of the kindred sciences.
Nor does there appear to be any reason why the methods of
examination, which have proved so successful in geology,
should not also be used to throw light on the history of man
in pre-liistorie times. Archaeology forms, in fact, the link
between geology and history. It is true that in the case of
other animals we can, from their bones and teeth, form a defi-
nite idea of their habits and mode of life, while in the present
state of our knowledge the skeleton of a savage could not
always be distinguished from that of a philosopher. But on
the other hand, while extinct animals leave only teeth and
bones behind them, the men of past ages are to be studied
principally by their works ; houses for the living, tombs for
the dead, fortifications for defence, temples for worship, im-
plements for use, ornaments for decoration.
From the careful study of the remains which have come
down to us, it would appear that Pre-historic Archeology
may be divided into four great epochs.
Firstly, that of the Drift ; when man shared the possession
of Europe with the Mammoth, the Cave bear, the Woolly-
haired rhinoceros, and other- extinct animals. This we may
call the “ Paleolithic ” period.
Secondly, The later or polished Stone age ; a period
characterized by beautiful weapons and instruments made
*
ARCHAEOLOGY INTO FOUR PERIODS. 3
of flint and other kinds of stone, in which, however, we
find no trace of the knowledge of any metal, excepting gold,
which seems to have been sometimes used for ornaments.
This we may call the “ Neolithic ” period.
Thirdly, The Bronze age, in which bronze was used for
arms and cutting instruments of all kinds.
Fourthly, The Iron age, in which that metal had super-
seded bronze for arms, axes, knives, etc. ; bronze, however,
still being in common use for ornaments, and frequently
also for the handles of swords and other arms, but never
for the blades. Stone weapons, however, of many kinds
were still in use during the age of Bronze, and even during
that of Iron. So that the mere presence of a few stone im-
plements is not in itself sufficient evidence, that any given
“find ” belongs to the Stone age.
In order to prevent misapprehension, it may be well to
state, at once, that, for the present, I only apply this classifi-
cation to Europe, though, in all probability, it might he
extended also to the neighbouring parts of Asia and Africa.
As regards other civilized countries, China and Japan for
instance, we, as yet, know nothing of their pre-historic
archaeology. It is evident, also, that some nations, such as
the Fuegians, Andamaners, etc., are even now only in an
age of Stone.
But even in this limited sense, the above classification has
not met with general acceptance ; there are still some archaeo-
logists who believe that the arms and implements of stone,
bronze, and iron were used contemporaneously.
Leaving the consideration of the Stone age for future
chapters, I shall endeavour in the present one to show that,
as regards Europe, the bronze arms and implements charac-
terise a particular period, and belong to a time anterior to
the discoverv, or at least to the common use, of iron. In
support of this we may appeal, firstly, to the testimony of
i
4
FIRST DISCOVERY OF METAL.
the most ancient writers ; and secondly, to the evidence ot
the objects themselves.
In fact, the weapons of bronze, and especially the swords
and celts, are, not only in form, but also in ornamentation
very similar all over Europe, and very different from those of
iron. And, though there are many cases, in which quan-
tities of arms have been found together, there is scarcely an
instance on record, in which any of these “ finds ” has com-
prised objects of the two classes.
For instance, at Nidau in the Lake of Bienne, Col. Schwab
has obtained more than two thousand objects of metal from
the site of an ancient Lake-village ; these were almost all of
bronze, only three fragments of iron having been met with,
and even these being probably modern. On the contrary, at
Tiefenau, near Berne, where a large number of iron arms
were discovered, including no less than a hundred swords,
not a single weapon of bronze was found.
It is probable that gold was the metal which first attracted
the attention of man ; it is found in many rivers, and by
its bright color would certainly attract even the rudest
savages, who are known to be very fond of personal deco-
ration. Silver does not appear to have been discovered
until long after gold, and was apparently preceded by both
copper and tin, as it is rarely, if ever,* found in tumuli of
the Bronze age ; but, however this may be, copper seems to
have been the metal which first became of real importance to
man : no doubt oAving to the fact that its ores are abundant
in many countries, and can be smelted without difficulty ;
and that, while iron is hardly ever found except in the form
of ore, copper often occurs in a native condition, and can
be beaten at once into shape. Thus, for instance, the North
American Indians obtained pure copper from the mines near
* Horae ferales, p. 60.
COPPER. TIN. IRON.
Lake Superior and elsewhere, and hammered it at once into
axes, bracelets, and other objects.
Tin also early attracted notice, probably on account of the
great heaviness of its ores. When metals were very scarce, it
would naturally sometimes happen that, in orcL.r to make up
the necessary quantity, some tin would be added to copper,
or vice versa. It would then be found that the properties of
the alloy were quite different from those of either metal, and
a very few experiments would determine the most advan-
tageous proportions, which are about nine parts of copper to
one part of tin. No implements or weapons of tin, have yet
been found in Europe, and those of copper. are extremely
rare, whence it has been inferred that the advantage of com-
bining the two metals was known elsewhere, before the use of
either was introduced into Europe. Many of the so-called
“copper axes,” etc., contain a small proportion of tin; and
the few exceptions indicate probably a mere temporary want,
rather than a total ignorance of this metal.
The ores of iron, though more abundant, are much less
striking than those of copper or tin. Moreover, though they
are perhaps more easily reduced, the metal, when obtained, is
much less tractable than bronze. This valuable alloy can
very easily be cast, and, in fact, all the weapons and imple-
ments made of it in olden times, were cast in moulds of sand
or stone. The art of casting iron, on the other hand, was
unknown until a comparatively late period.
In the writings of the early poets, iron is frequently charac-
terised by the epithet 'ttoXvk^to^, and its adjective, cn&rfpeos,
is used metaphorically to imply the greatest stubbornness.
While, however, these facts tend very much to remove the
d priori improbability that a compound and comparatively
expensive material like bronze, should have been in general
use before such a common metal as iron, we must, of course,
seek elsewhere for evidence of the fact.
G
ALLUSIONS TO BRONZE BY ANCIENT WRITERS.
Hesiod, who is supposed to have lived about 900 B.C., and
who is the earliest European author whose works have come
down to us, distinctly states that iron was discovered after
copper and tin. Speaking of those who were ancient, even
in his day, he says that they used bronze, and not iron.
TOi9 B'r/v ^ dXfcea fiev rev^ea. %d\/ceoi Be re oIkol
yctkKw 8’ elpyd^ovro ; fiekas B’ou % eatce alBppo^.
Ilis poems, as well as those of Homer, show that nearly three
thousand years ago, the value of iron was known and appre-
ciated. It is true that, as we read in Dr. Smith’s Dictionary
of Greek and Roman Antiquities, bronze “ is represented in
the Iliad and Odyssey as the common material of arms, in-
struments, and vessels of various sorts ; the latter (iron) is
mentioned much more rarely.” While, however, the above
statement is strictly correct, we must remember that among
the Greeks the word iron ( alBrjpo ?) was used, even in the
time of Homer, as synonymous with a sword, and that steel
also appears to have been known to them under the name of
uBdp,a<;, and perhaps also of kvclvos, as early as the time of
Hesiod. We may, therefore, consider that the Trojan war
took place during the period of transition from the Bronze to
the Iron age.
Lucretius distinctly mentions the three ages. He says
Arma anti qua, manus, ungues, dentesque fuerunt
Et lapides, et item sylvarum fragmina rami,
Posterius ferri vis est, terisque reperta,
Sed prior aeris erat, quam ferri cognitus ususA
Coming down to more modern times, Eccardf in 1750,
and Gog-uet in 1758,7 mention the three later ages in plain
terms, § and the same idea rims through Borlase’s History of
* V. 1282. Arts et des Sciences. See Ch. iv. and
+ Lccard. De origine et moribus tbe preface.
Germanorum. § See Iihind in Arch. Ins. Jour. Y.
+ Goguet. De 1' origine des Lois, de xiii.
FINDS OF THE IRON AGE.
i
Cornwall. Sir Richard Colt Hoare also expresses the opinion
that, instruments of iron “ denote a much later period ” than
those of hronze ; hut M. Thomsen, the founder of the great
museum at Copenhagen, was the first to apply these observa-
tions as the basis of a scientific chronology.
The date of the introduction of iron into the North of
Europe cannot at present be satisfactorily ascertained ; never-
theless it is most likely that the use of this metal spread
rapidly through Europe. Not only does it seem a priori
probable that such an important discovery would do so, but
it is evident that the same commercial organisation which
had already carried the tin of Cornwall all over our con-
tinent, woidd equally facilitate the transmission of iron, as
soon as that even more useful metal was discovered and
rendered available. However this may be, when the armies
of Rome brought the civilisation of the South into contact
with that of the North, they found the value of iron already
well known to their new enemies ; the excellence of whose
weapons indicated very considerable progress in the art of
metallurgy. Nor is there any reason to suppose that arms
of bronze were at that time still in use in the North, for,
had this been so, it would certainly have been mentioned by
the Roman writers ; while the description given by Tacitus
of the Caledonian weapons shows that hronze swords were
no longer used in Scotland, at the time he wrote. Moreover,
there are several cases in which large quantities of arms be-
longing to the Roman period have been found together, and
in which the arms and implements are all of iron. This argu-
ment is in its very nature cumulative, and cannot therefore be
fully developed here, but, out of many, I will mention a few
cases in illustration.
Some years ago, an old battle-field was discovered at
Tiefenau, near Berne, and described by M. Jahn. On it
were found a great number of objects made of iron ; such as
8
TIEFENAU.
fragments of chariots, bits for horses, wheels, pieces of coats
of mail, and arms of various sorts, including no less than a
hundred two-handed swords. All of these were made of
iron, hut with them were several fibula) of bronze, and some
coins, of which about thirty were of bronze, struck at Mar-
seilles, and presenting a head of Apollo on one side and a
bull on the other, both good specimens of Greek art. The
rest were silver pieces, also struck at Marseilles. These coins,
and the absence of any trace of Roman influence, sufficiently
indicate the antiquity of these interesting remains.
Some very interesting “ finds ” of articles belonging to the
Iron age have been made in the peat bogs of Slesvick, and
described by M. Engclhardt, Curator of the Museum at
Flensborg. One of these, in the Moss of Nydam, comprises
clothes, • sandals, brooches, tweezers, beads, liehnets, shields,
shield bosses, breastplates, coats of mail, buckles, swordbelts,
sword sheaths, 80 swords, 500 spears, 30 axes, 40 awls, 160
arrows, 80 knives, various articles of horse gear, wooden
rakes, mallets, vessels, wheels, pottery, coins, etc. Without
a single exception, all the weapons and cutting implements
are made of iron, though bronze was freely used for brooches
and other similar articles.*
In the summer of 1862, M. Engelhardt found in the same
field a ship, or rather a large flat-bottomed boat, seventy
feet in length, three feet deep in the middle, and eight or
nine feet wide. The sides are of oak boards, overlapping one
another, and fastened together by iron bolts. On the inner
side of each board are several projections, which are not made
from separate pieces, but were left when the boards were cut out
of the solid timber. Each of these projections has two small
holes, through which ropes, made of the inner bark of trees,
* See Lubbock in Nat. Ilis. Rev. Oct. Runic characters. I had the pleasure of
1863, and Stephens in Gent. Mag. Dec. visiting this interesting spot with M.
1863. On one of the arrows were some Engelhardt in 1862.
NYDAM.
9
were passed, in order to fasten tlie sides of the boat to the ribs.
The rowlocks are formed by a projecting horn of wood, under
which is an orifice, so that a rope, fastened to the horn and
passing through the orifice, leaves a space through which the
oar played. There appear to have been about fifty pairs of
oars, of which sixteen have already been discovered. The
bottom of the boat was covered by matting. I visited the
spot about a week after the boat had been discovered, hut
was unable to see much of it, as it had been taken to pieces,
and the boards, etc., were covered over with straw and peat,
that they might dry slowly. In this manner, M. Engelhardt
hopes that they will perhaps, at least in part, retain their
original shape. The freight of the boat, consisted of iron
axes, including a socketed celt with its handle, swords,
lances, knives, brooches, whetstones, wooden vessels, and,
oddly enough, two birch brooms, with many smaller articles.
Only those, however, have yet been found which remained
actually in the boat ; and, as in sinking it turned partly
over on its side, no doubt many more articles will reward
the further explorations which M. Engelhardt proposes to
make. It is evident, that this ancient boat was sunk on
purpose, because there is a square hole about six inches
in diameter hewn out of the bottom ; and it is probable,
that in some time of panic or danger the objects contained
in it were thus hidden by their owner, who was never able
to recover them. Even in recent times of disturbance, as,
for instance, in the beginning of this century, and in 1848,
many arms, ornaments, household utensils, etc., were so effec-
tually hidden in the lakes and peat mosses, that they could
never be found again. Much interest is added to this vessel
and its contents, by the fact, that we can fix almost their
exact date. The boat lies, as I have already mentioned,
within a few yards of the spot where the previous discoveries
at Nydam were made, and as all the arms and ornaments
10
THORS BJ ERG.
exactly correspond, there can be little donbt that they belong
to the same period. Now the previous collection included
nearly fifty Roman coins, ranging in date from a.d. 67 to
217, and we cannot therefore be far wrong in referring these
remains to the third century.
A very similar discovery has been made at Thorsbjerg in
the same neighbourhood, but in this case, owing to some
chemical difference in the peat, the iron has been almost
entirely removed. It may naturally be asked why then this
should be quoted as an instance of the Iron age ? And the
answer seems quite satisfactory. All the swords, lance-
heads and axe-blades have disappeared, while the handles of
bronze or wood are perfectly preserved, and as the orna-
ments and other objects of bronze are well preserved, it is
evident that the swords, etc., were not of that metal ; and it
is therefore reasonable to conclude that they were of iron,
more especially as the whole character of the objects resem-
bles that of those found at Nydam, and the coins, which are
about as numerous as those from the latter place, range from
60 a.d. to 197 ; so that these two great “ finds ” may be re-
garded as almost contemporaneous.
Not only are bronze weapons altogether absent from these
deposits, but their forms and the character of the ornamen-
tation are very different from those of the Bronze age ;
resembling in some respects Roman arms, in others they
are quite peculiar, and evidently representative of northern
art.
From these and similar discoveries, it appears evident
that the use of bronze weapons had been discontinued
in the North before, probably long before, the commence-
ment of our era. From the ease with which it could be
worked, this metal was still used for brooches and orna-
ments ; but in the manufacture of swords, lances, axes and
similar implements, it had been entirely superseded by iron.
FINDS OF THE BRONZE AGE.
11
There are many cases on record of iron swords with bronze
handles or scabbards, but scarcely any instances of the
reverse.
Conversely, as bronze weapons are entirely absent from the
great “ finds ” of the Iron age, so iron weapons are equally
wanting in those instances where, as for instance at Nidau,
on the Lake of Bienne, and Estavayer, on that of Neufchatel,
large quantities of bronze tools and weapons have been found
together.
To sum up this argument, though the discoveries of bronze
and iron weapons have been very numerous, yet there is
hardly a single case in which swords, axes, daggers, or other
weapons of these two different metals, have been found to-
gether ; nor are bronze weapons ever found associated with
coins, pottery, or other relics of Homan origin. The value of
this evidence will better be appreciated after reading the fol-
lowing extract from Mr. Wright’s Essays on Archaeology : *
“All the sites of ruined Roman towns with which I am
acquainted present to the excavator a numerous collection of
objects, ranging through a period which ends abruptly with
what we call the close of the Roman period, and attended
with circumstances which cannot leave any doubt that this
was the period of destruction. Otherwise, surely we should
find some objects which would remind us of the subsequent
periods. I will only mention one class of articles which are
generally found in considerable numbers, the coins. We in-
variably find these presenting a more or less complete series
of Roman coins, ending at latest with the Emperors who
reigned in the first half of the fifth century. This is not
the case with Roman towns which have continued to exist
after that period, for then, on the contrary, we find relics
which speak of the subsequent inhabitants, early Saxon and
Mediaeval. I will only, for want of space, give one example,
* Essays on Archaeology, p. 105.
12 BRONZE AND IRON ARMS NEVER FOUND TOGETHER.
that of Richborough in Kent. The town of Rutupiae seems
to have capitulated with the Saxon invaders, and to have
continued until its inhabitants, in consequence of the retreat
of the sea, gradually abandoned it to establish themselves at
Sandwich. Now the coins found at Richborough do not end
with those of the Roman emperors, but we find, first, a great
quantity of those singular little coins which are generally
known by the name of minimi, and which, presenting very
bad imitations of the Roman coinage, are considered as be-
longing to the age immediately following the Roman period,
and preceding that of the Saxon coinage.”
We may assume, then, on the authority of Mr. Wright
himself, that if all these bronze arms were reallv of Roman
* */
origin, many of them would have been found from time to time
in conjunction with other Roman remains. Yet Mr. Wright
himself has only been able to give me one doubtful instance
of this kind.*
I may also add that the Romans used “ ferrum ” either to
mean “ iron,” or a sword, showing that their swords were
made of that metal ; and that bronze weapons are particu-
larly numerous in some countries to which the Roman armies
never penetrated ; such, for instance, as Ireland and Denmark.
Nor does there appear to be any subsequent period, to
which we can refer the weapons of bronze. Great numbers
of Saxon interments have been examined both in this country
and on the Continent, and we know that the swords, lances,
knives, and other weapons of that time, were all of iron.
Besides this, if the bronze implements and weapons had be-
longed to post-Roman times, we should certainly, I think,
have found some of them in the ruined towns, and with the
pottery and coins of that period. Moreover, the similarity
* Tn Stuart’s Caledonia Romana, 2nd near the Roman station of Ardoch.
cd. pi. v., is a figure of a leaf-shaped The particulars of its discovery, how-
sword, said to have been found in or ever, are not given.
OBJECTS CHARACTERISTIC OF THE BRONZE AGE.
13
to each other of the weapons found in very distant parts of
Europe, implies more extended intercourse between different
countries, than any that existed in those centuries. On the
whole, then, the evidence appears to show that the use of
bronze weapons is characteristic of a particular phase in the
history of European civilisation, and one which was anterior
to the discovery, or, at least, to the general use, of iron for
cutting purposes. The commonest and, perhaps, most cha-
racteristic objects belonging to the Bronze age, are the
so-called “celts” (figs. 1 to 12) which were probably used
Fio. 1. Fig. 2.
Fio. 4.
Fig. 5.
Fio. G.
The three different types of
Celts and the manner in which they are supposed to have been
handled.
14
BRONZE CELTS.
for chisels, hoes, war-axes, and
Fig. 7.
Copper? Celt from
Ireland.
Fio. 8.
Celt-mould from Ireland.
a variety of other pur-
poses. Similar imple-
ments, but made of iron
instead of bronze, are
even now employed in
Siberia and some parts
of Africa.* More than
two thousand are known
to exist in the different
Irish collections, of which
the great Museum belong-
ing to the Royal Irish
Academy at Dublin con-
Fig. 10.
Fig. II. Flo. 12.
Decorated Celt from Ireland.
Danish Celts.
tained in the year 1860 no less than six hundred and eighty-
* Horae feralcs, p. 77.
MODES OF HANDLING.
15
eight,* no two of which were cast in the same mould.
They vary in size from an inch to a foot in length and
may be divided into three principal classes (figs. 4-6) accord-
ing to the manner in which they were handled ; though wc
must remember that there were many intermediate forms.
The first class (figs. 1, 4, 7, 9, 10, and 11) is the simplest in
form, and is considered by some antiquaries, as, for instance,
by Sir W. It. Wilde, f to he the oldest, partly because they are
“evidently formed on the type of the old stone celts,” (conf.
figs. 7 and 72) partly because some of them (nearly thirty
for instance in the Dublin Museum) are of red, almost un-
alloyed, copper, and arc “almost the only antique implements
of any kind formed out of” this metal, and partly because
the copper ones at least are always unornamented. On the
other hand, the simplicity of form exhibited by the copper
axes, which may be observed in those from other countries
as well as from Ireland, is perhaps to be accounted for by
the great difficulty of casting copper, so that the founders,
when dealing with that metal, would naturally confine them-
selves to the simpler forms. There can be little doubt that
these simple celts were handled in the manner indicated
(fig. 4).
Evidently, however, the blade would at every blow tend
to split the handle in which it was placed. To remedy this
defect, a stop or ridge was raised across the celt, and the
metal and wood were made to fit into one another (figs. 2
and 5). This second form of celt is known as a Paalstab, or
Paalstave, and has often a small loop on one side (the sup-
posed use of which is indicated in the figure), as well as a
win o' on each side.
o
A still farther improvement consisted (figs. 3, 6, 12) in
reversing the position of the metal and the handle, making
* In the Museum at Edinburgh are more than 100, at Copenhagen 350.
f Cat. p. 361.
1G
BRONZE SWORDS.
the axe hollow at one end, and so passing the handle into it.
The celts are generally plain, but sometimes ornamented with
Sweden.
Bhonzb Swords.
BRONZE SWORDS.
17
ridges, dots, or lines, as in figs. 3, 6, 8, 11, and 12. That they
were made in the countries where they are found, is proved
by the presence of moulds (fig. 8). It is difficult to under-
stand why the celt-makers never cast their axes as we do
Fio. 19.
Fio. 20.
Fig. 21.
Fig. 22.
Fig. 23.
Sword-handles from Denmark.
ours, with a transverse hole,
through which the handle
might pass. No bronze im-
plement of this description
has, however, so far as I
know, been yet found in
Great Britain, though a few
have occurred in Denmark,
where they are of great
beauty and highly deco-
rated.
The swords of the Bronze
age (figs. 14-23),* are always more
or less leaf- like in shape, double-
edged, sharp-pointed, and intended
for stabbing and thrusting, rather
swords from Denmark. ^an for cutting. This is evident,
not only from the general shape, but also from the condition
* In fig. 13 an ancient iron sword is represented, in order to show the difference
in form.
2
18
BRONZE DAGGERS.
of the edges. They never have any handguards : the
handles are sometimes solid (figs. 17-23) ; this is generally
the case with those found in Denmark: sometimes (figs.
14-16) flat, thin, and evidently intended to be plated with
wood or bone : while sometimes the sword expands at its
Fig. 25.
Irish Bronze Daggers.
base, and is fastened to a handle by from two to four
rivets. Swords of this class are generally shorter than
the others, and indeed we find every intermediate form
between the true sword and the dagger (figs. 24, 25, 2G) : of
SPEAR-HEADS, ARROWS, EISH-HOOKS, SICKLES.
19
Fig. 2L. Fig. 28.
the two classes together, the Dublin Museum contains
nearly 300. The handles of the bronze swords are very
short, and could not have been held comfortably by hands as
large as ours, a characteristic much relied on by those who
attribute the introduction of bronze into Europe to a people
of Asiatic origin.
The next classes of bronze objects are the
heads of spears (figs. 27, 28), javelins, and
arrows ; two hundred and seventy- six of
which are in the Dublin Museum ; in length
they vary from two feet and a half to an
inch, and their shapes are also very various
but it is unnecessary to describe them in
detail, because they are repeated in simi-
lar weapons of all ages, countries and ma-
terials. Bronze arrows, however, are not
very common in Northern Europe, proba-
bly because flint was so much cheaper, and
almost as effective.
More than a hundred bronze fish-hooks
have been found at Nidau in the Lake of
Bienne, but elsewhere they appear to be
rare; the Museum at Dublin contains only one. Sickles
are more numerous ; at Copenhagen there are twenty-five,
at Dublin eleven ; in the Lake- village at Morges eleven
have been found, at Nidau eighteen ; they are generally
about six inches in length, flat on one side, and raised
on the other ; they were always intended to be held in the
right hand.
Bronze knives (figs. 29-33) are frequently found in the
Danish tumuli, and among the remains of the Swiss lake-
habitations ; twenty, for instance, at Morges, twenty-six at
Estavayer, and about a hundred at Nidau : in Ireland they
appear to be very rare ; the Dublin Museum does not contain
Spear-heads from
Ireland.
20
BRONZE KNIVES.
one. They were generally fitted into handles of bone, horn,
or wood, and the blade is almost always more or less curved,
Fig. 32. Flo. 33.
Bronze Knives from
Switzerland.
while those of iron knives, on the contrary, were gene-
rally straight.
The small bronze razor-knives (figs. 34-37), indeed, have
straight edges, but they are quite of a different character
from the iron knives : from the ornaments engraved on
them, I am disposed to regard them as belonging to a late
period in the age of Bronze, if not in some cases to the
beginning of that of Iron. Indeed, the Flensborg Museum
RAZOR KNIVES,
21
contains a razor-knife said to have been found together with
objects of the latter metal.
Fig. 34.
Fig. 35. Fig. 36. Fig. 37.
Fig. 38.
Fig. 39.
Small Knives from Denmark.
The personal ornaments of the Bronze age consist princi-
22
BRONZE BRACELETS.
pally of bracelets (figs. 40, 41), pins (fig. 42), and rings.
The bracelets are either simple spirals, or rings open at one
side, and decorated by those combinations of straight and
curved lines, so characteristic of the Bronze age.
Fig. 40. Fw. 41.
Bracelets — Switzerland.
Very many bronze pins have been obtained from the Swiss
lake-habitations : for instance, 57 from Morges, 239 from Es-
tavayer, and 600 from Nidau. They arc also very frequently
A. b. c. D.
Fig. 42.— Bronze Hair-pins— Switzerland.
found in graves, where they were used, as pointed out by Sir
R. C. Hoare, to secure the linen cloth which enveloped the
bones. Although brooches of bronze are very common, they
have generally been found in conjunction with iron, and we may
BRONZE PINS.
23
almost say that they were unknown during the Bronze age>
their place being filled by simple pins. Many of the latter
articles found in the Swiss lakes appear, however, to have
been hair-pins. Some of them are nearly a foot in length, and
two found near Berne even as much as 2ft. 9in. Many of the
pins have large hollow spherical heads, as in fig. 42, a, b ; the
others vary 30 much that it is impossible to give any
general description of them. There can be little doubt
that these pins really belong to the fto. 43. fig. 44. fig. 45. fig. 46.
Bronze age ; but the fact, that similar
ones continued in use long after the
introduction of iron, appears to be
equally well established. One of these
later bronze pins is represented in fig.
124. Some other small objects of
bronze, including two needles, from the
Lake of Neufchatel, are represented
in figs, 43-48. Bronze hammers are
very rare ; it is probable that stones
were used for this purpose. Gouges
are more common. Small saws have
been discovered in Germany and Den-
mark, but not, as yet, in Great Britain.
Fig. 48.
Small objects in Bronze. Switzerland.
Studs or buttons, though not very abundant, arc found both
in Switzerland and Scandinavia.*
I have also figured a group (figs. 49-52) of Irish gold
* Further information as to the objects of bronze from Switzerland will be
found in the chapter on the Swiss Lake-habitations.
24
GOLD ORNAMENTS.
ornaments. We have, however, as yet no evidence as to
their origin, and it is more than probable that they belong
to a much later period.
Fig. 49.
Gold Torque— Ireland. Found near Clonmaonoise.
FtG. 50.
Fig. 51.
Gold Ornaments— Ireland.
CHARACTER OF ORNAMENTATION.
25
Fig. 52.
Gold Ornament— Ireland.
The ornamentation on the objects of bronze is of peculiar,
and at the same time uniform, character ; it consists of simple
geometrical patterns, and is formed by combinations of spirals,
circles, and zigzag lines; representations of animals and plants
being very rarely attempted. Even the few exceptions to
this rule are perhaps more apparent than real. Thus, two
such only are figured in the Catalogue of the Copenhagen
Museum; one is a rude figure of a swan (fig. 29), the
other of a man (fig. 31). The second of these forms the
handle of a knife, which appears to be straight in the blade,
a type characteristic of the Iron age, but rarely found in that
of Bronze. As regards one of them, therefore, there is an
independent reason for referring it to the period of transition,
or at least to the close of the Bronze age. There is, indeed,
one type of pattern, usually foimd on the razor-knives, but
sometimes also on others, intended probably for a rude repre-
sentation of a ship (figs. 34-37). Even, however, if we admit
that this is the case, and if we accept these objects as belonging
to the Bronze age, they will only show how little advance had
yet been made in the art of representing natural objects.
We should hardly, perhaps, have expected to know much
of the manner in which the people of the Bronze age were
dressed. Considering how perishable are the materials out
of which clothes are necessarily formed, it is wonderful
that any fragments of them should have remained to the
present day. There can be little doubt that the skins of
26
TUMULUS OF TREENHOI.
animals were extensively used for this purpose, as indeed
they have been in all ages of man’s history ; many traces of
linen tissue also have been found in English tumuli of the
Bronze age, and in the Swiss Lakes. Fig. 123 represents a
piece of fabric from Bobenhausen in Switzerland ; it belongs,
however, in all probability to the Stone age. Even a single
fragment such as this, throws, of course, much light on the
manufactures, if we may call them so, of the period to which it
belongs ; but fortunately we need not content ourselves with
any such partial knowledge as this, as we possess the whole
dress of a chief belonging to the Bronze age.
On a farm occupied by a M. Dahls, near Bibe in Jutland,
are four tumuli, which are known as Great Kongehoi,
Little Kongehoi, Guldlioi, and Treenhoi. This last was
examined in 1861 by MM. Worsaae and Herbst. It is about
fifty ells in diameter and six in height, being composed of a
loose sandy earth. In it, near the centre, were found three
wooden coffins, two of full size, and one evidently intended
for a child. The coffin with which we are now particularly
concerned, was about 9ft. 8in. long and 2ft. 2in. broad on the
outside; its internal measurements were 7-Jft. long and 1ft. 8in.
broad. It was covered by a moveable lid of corresponding
size. The contents were pecidiar, and very interesting.
While, as might naturally he expected, we find, in most
ancient graves, only the bones and teeth, all the soft parts
having long ago decayed away, — in some cases, and this was
one of them, almost exactly the reverse has happened.
Owing to the presence of water, and perhaps to the fact
that it was strongly impregnated with iron, the soft parts of
the bod}’ had been turned into a dark, greasy, substance ;
and the bones, with the exception of a few fragments, were
changed into a kind of blue powder.
Singularly enough, the brain seems to have been the part
which had undergone least change. On opening the coffin,
DRESS IN THE BRONZE AGE.
27
it was found lying at one end, where no doubt the head had
originally been placed, covered by a thick hemispherical
woollen cap, about six inches in height (fig. 53). The outer
side of this cap was thickly covered by short loose threads,
Fig. 54.
Woollen Caps.
Fxo. 56.
Woollen Cloak.
every one of them ending in a small knot, which gave the cap
a very singular appearance. The body of the corpse had
been wrapped in a coarse woollen cloak (fig. 56), which was
28
DRESS OF A CHIEF
almost semicircular, and hollowed out round the neck. It
was about 3ft. 8in. long-, and broad in proportion. On its
inner side were left hanging a great number of short woollen
threads, which give it somewhat the appearance of plush.
On the right side of the corpse, was a box, made with a lid
of the same diameter. It was 7Jin. in diameter, 6] in. high,
and was fastened together by pieces of osier or bark. In
this box was a similar smaller one, without a lid, and in this,
again, were three articles, namely, a cap Tin. high, of simply
woven woollen stuff (fig. 54) ; a small comb 3in. long, 2^ in.
high (fig. 55) ; and a small simple razor-knife*
After the cloak and the bark-box had been taken away,
Fig. 57.
Fig. 58.
Woollen Shirt.
two woollen shawls came to view, one of them covering the
feet, the other lying higher up. They were of a square
shape, rather less than 5ft. long, 3ft. 9in. broad, and with a
long fringe (fig. 58). At the place where the body had lain,
was a shirt (fig. 57) also of woollen material, cut out a little
IN THE BRONZE AGE.
29
for the neck, and with a long projecting tongue at one of the
upper angles. It was fastened at the waist by a long woollen
band, which went twice round the body, and himg down in
front. On the left side of the corpse was a bronze sword
(fig. 19), in a wooden sheath. It is 2ft. 3in. in length, and
has a solid simple handle.
At the feet were two pieces of woollen
stuff, about 14|in. long and 3|in. wide
(fig. 59), the use of which does not seem
quite clear, though they may be sup-
posed to have been the remains of leg-
gings. At the end of the coffin were
found traces of leather, doubtless the
remains of boots. In the cap, where the
head had been, was some black hair, and
the form of the brain was still recog-
nisable. Finally, this ancient warrior
had been wrapped round in an ox’s hide,
and so committed to the grave.
The other two coffins were not examined by competent
persons, and the valuable information which they might have
afforded was thus lost to us. The more indestructible things
were, however, preserved ; they consisted of a sword, a brooch,
a knife, a double-pointed awl, a pair of tweezers, a large
double button or stud, all of bronze ; a small double button
of tin, and a javelin head of flint.
The baby’s coffin produced only an amber bead, and a small
bronze bracelet, consisting of a simple ring of metal.
There can, therefore, be no doubt that this very interesting
tumulus belonged to the Bronze age, and I am inclined to
place it somewhat late in that period, partly on account of
the knife and razor-knife, both of which belong to forms
which I have already given my reasons for referring to the
close of the Bronze age, and to the beginning of that of Iron.
Fio. 59.
Leggings.
MODE OF BURIAL.
Bronze brooches are also very rarely found in the Bronze
age, and are common in that of Iron. The sword, again
belongs to a form which is regarded by Professor Nilsson as
being of late introduction.
Finally, the mode of sepulture, though other similar cases
are on record, is, to say the least, very imusual ; in the age of
Iron, indeed, the corpse is generally extended, but in that of
Bronze the dead were, with few exceptions, burned, or buried
in a contracted attitude. In Denmark, cremation appears to
have been almost universal ; in England I have taken out
the statistics of 100 cases of tombs containing objects of
bronze, 37 recorded by Mr. Bateman and 63 by Sir It. C.
Hoare ; and the following table shows the manner in which
the corpse had been treated.
Contracted.
Burnt.
Extended.
Uncertain,
Bateman ..
.... 15
10
5
7
Hoare
4
49
2
8
19
59
7
15
We may consider, therefore, that during this period the
corpse was sometimes, though rarely, extended on its back,
that more frequently it was buried in a sitting or crouching
position, and in a small chamber formed by large stones, but
that the most usual practice was to burn the dead, and collect
the ashes and fragments of bones in, or under, an urn.
The ancient funeral customs, however, will be more fullr
considered in a subsequent chapter.
31
CHAPTER II.
THE BRONZE AGE.
THERE are four principal theories as to the Bronze age.
According to some archgeologists, the discovery, or
introduction, of bronze was unattended by any other great
or sudden change in the condition of the people ; hut was
the result, and is the evidence of a gradual and peaceable
development. Some attribute the bronze arms and imple-
ments, found in Northern Europe, to the Roman armies, some
to the Phoenician merchants ; while others, again, consider
that the men of the Stone age were replaced by a new and
more civilized people of Indo-European race, coming from
the East ; who, bringing with them a knowledge of bronze,
overran Europe, and dispossessed — in some places entirely
destroying — the original, or rather the earlier inhabitants.
It is not, indeed, necessary to suppose that the introduction
of bronze should have been effected everywhere in the same
manner ; so far, for instance, as Switzerland and Ireland are
concerned, Dr. Keller* and Sir W. R. Wilde f may be quite
right in considering that the so-called “ primitive ” popula-
tion did not belong to a different race from that subse-
quently characterised by the use of bronze.
Still, though it is evident that the knowledge of bronze
must necessarily have been preceded by the separate use of
copper and of tin; yet no single implement of the latter metal
* Mittheil. der Antiquar. Gesellscli. in Zurich, Bd. xiv. H. 6.
f Wilde, 1. c. p. 360.
32
SIMILARITY OF
has been hitherto found in Europe, while those of copper are
extremely rare. Hungary and Ireland, indeed, have been sup-
posed to form partial exceptions to this rule. The geographical
position of the former country is probably a sufficient explana-
tion; and as far as Ireland is concerned, it may perhaps be
worth while to examine how far that country really forms an
exception. In the great Museum at Dublin there are 725 celts
and celt-like chisels, 282 swords and daggers, and 276 lances,
javelins, and arrow-heads; yet out of these 1283 weapons
only 30 celts and one sword-blade are said to be of pure
copper.* I say “are said to be,” because they have not been
analysed, but are supposed to be copper only from the “phy-
sical properties and ostensible colour of the metal indeed
one of these very celts, which was analysed by Mr. Mallet,
was found to contain a small percentage of tin. It is pos-
sible that for some of the purposes to which celts were
applied, copper may have been nearly as useful as bronze,
and at any rate it might sometimes have happened that from
a deficiency of tin, some implements would be made of
copper only.
Taking these facts into consideration, Ireland certainly
does not appear to present any strong evidence of an age of
copper, while no one has ever pretended to find either there,
or any where else in Europe, a trace of any separate use
of tin*
Sir W. E. Wilde himself admits it to be “remarkable that
so few antique copper implements have been found, although
a knowledge of that metal must have been the preliminary
stage in the manufacture of bronze.” He thinks, however,
that “ the circumstance may be accounted for, either by sup-
posing that but a short time elapsed between the knowledge
* One even of these is with good f It was sometimes used for purposes
reason considered by Dr. Wilde to be of ornamentation, but that does uot of
an American specimen. course affect the present argument.
BRONZE IMPLEMENTS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 33
of smelting and casting copper ore, and the introduction of
tin, and subsequent manufacture and use of bronze ; or from
the probability of nearly all such articles having been re-
cast and converted into bronze, subsequent to the introduc-
tion of tin, which renders them harder, sharper, and more
valuable.”*
There is, however, another circumstance which strongly
militates against this theory of a gradual and independent
development of metallurgical knowledge in different coun-
tries, and that is the fact which has been broadly stated by
Mr. Wright, and which I may, perhaps, repeat here, that
whenever we find the bronze swords or celts, “whether in
Ireland in the far west, in Scotland, in distant Scandinavia,
in Germany, or still further east in the Sclavonic countries,
they are the same — not similar in character, but identical.”
The great resemblance of stone implements found in dif-
ferent parts of the world may be satisfactorily accounted
for by the similarity of the material, and the simplicity of
the forms. But this argument cannot be applied to the
bronze arms and implements. Not only are several varieties
of celts found throughout Europe, but some of the swords,
knives, daggers, etc., are so similar, that they seem as if they
must have been cast by the same maker. Compare, for
instance, figs. 1, 3, and 9, which represent Irish celts, with
10, 12, and 11, which are copied from Danish specimens; the
three swords, figs. 14, 15., and 16, which come respectively
from Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the two, figs.
17 and 18, of which the first is Swiss, the second Scandi-
navian. It would have been easy to multiply examples of
this similarity, and it is not going too far to say that these
resemblances cannot be the result of accident. On the other
hand, it must be admitted that each country has certain
* Wilde, l. e. p. 357.
3
34
BRONZE IMPLEMENTS NOT OF
minor peculiarities. Neither the forms nor the ornaments
are exactly similar. In Denmark and Mecklenhurgli, spiral
ornaments are most common ; farther south, these are
replaced by ring ornaments and lines. The Danish swords
generally have solid, and richly decorated handles, as in
tigs. 17-23, while those found in Great Britain (fig. 14)
terminate in a plate which was riveted to pieces of wood
or bone. Again, the British lance-heads frequently have
loops at the side of the shaft-hole, as in fig. 27, which is
never the case with Danish specimens.
The discovery of moulds in Ireland, Scotland, England,
Switzerland, Denmark, and elsewhere, shows that the art of
casting in bronze was known and practised in many countries.
Under these circumstances, it appears most probable that the
knowledge of metal is one of those great discoveries which
Europe owes to the East, and that the use of copper was not
introduced into our Continent, until it had been observed that
by the addition of a small quantity of tin it was rendered
harder and more valuable.
I have already, in the first chapter, given the reasons
which render it evident to me that the bronze weapons are
not of Roman origin. These may be summed up as follows :
Firstly. They have never been found in company with
Roman pottery, or other remains of the Roman period.
Secondly. The ornamentation is not Roman in its character.
Thirdly. The bronze swords do not resemble in form those
used by Roman soldiers.
Fourthly. The Latin word “ ferrum” was used as synony-
mous with a sword, showing that the Romans always used
iron.
Fifthly. Bronze implements are very abundant in some
countries, as for instance in Denmark and Ireland, which
were never invaded by Roman armies.
Moreover, the bronze used by the Romans contained,
ROMAN ORIGIN.
35
generally, a large proportion of lead, which is never the
case in that of the Bronze age.
My friend Mr. Wright* mentions, three cases in which
bronze swords are supposed to have been found together
with Roman remains. The first instance has been already
alluded to (p. 12). As regards the other two, he has, unfor-
tunately, mislaid the references, and I have therefore been
unable to verify the statements. Even granting that there
is no mistake about these cases, and that the facts are as he
supposes, they would prove nothing. Bronze swords are ex-
cellent and beautiful weapons, and would certainly have been
preserved as curiosities, sometimes even employed, long after
they had been replaced in general use by iron. Mr. Wright
lays much stress on the fact, that the bronze weapons have
generally been found near Roman stations, and Roman roads.
As regards England, this is no doubt true, but we must
remember that the whole of this country is intersected by
Roman roads, many of which, moreover, were old lines of
communication, long before Caesar first landed on our coasts.
He appears, however, to forget that bronze weapons are very
common in Ireland and Denmark, where there are no Roman
roads at all.
But Mr. Wright sees nothing in Great Britain which
can be referred to ante-Roman times. The arms and im-
plements of bronze he refers, as we have seen, to the Romans
themselves, those of stone to the Britons, their contempo-
raries. Thus, having noticed that flint implements are more
common near Bridlington than near Leeds,
“ If these stone implements,”* he says, “belong to a period
anterior to the Romans, and before the metals were extracted
from the ground, why are they not found as frequently in
the neighbourhood of Leeds as in that of Bridlington ?”
* Lecture on the Early History of Leeds, p. 19.
t Ibid. p. 12.
36
REFERRED BY SOME ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO
The reason seems to me to be obvious. Bridlington is in
a chalk country, and flint is therefore abundant, while near
Leeds none occurs in situ. But if we are to refer not only
the bronze implements, but also those of stone, to the Homan
period, wliat implements, we may ask, does Mr. Wright sup-
pose were used by the ancient Britons before the arrival of
Cuesar ? It would be more reasonable to deny the existence
of ancient Britons at once, than thus to deprive them, as
it were, of all means of obtaining subsistence ; nor can we
forget that these so-called barbarians manufactured chariots,
coined money, and offered a not unsuccessful opposition, even
to the forces of Home, and the genius of Caesar.
Their weapons, however, were made of iron, not of bronze ;
and, on the whole, it may, I think, be concluded that the use
of this alloy was neither discovered in Northern Europe, nor
introduced by the Romans ; we may pass on, therefore, to
consider the views of those who attribute the Bronze age
civilisation to the influence of Phoenician commerce. This
theory has recently been maintained, with great ability, by
Professor Nilsson ;* Sir George Corncwall Lewis f on the
other hand, while admitting that Cornwall was the great
source of tin in ancient times, has endeavoured to prove that
this metal found its way “ to the nations in the cast of the
Mediterranean by the overland route across Gaul, and that
the Phoenician ships brought it from the mouth of the
Rhone, without sailing as far as Britain.”
lie regards, therefore, the accounts of ancient voyages as
being in many cases either mythical, or at least exaggerated,
but he does not make sufficient allowance for the fact that
our knowledge of them is often derived from unfriendly
critics or poetical allusions ; nor need we go farther than Sir
* Skandinaviska Nordens Ur-inva- notny of the Ancients. By the Bight
nare. Af. S. Nilsson, Stockholm, 1862. Hon. Sir George Corncwall Lewis, 1862.
f An Historical Survey of the Astro-
THE PHOENICIANS.
37
Cornewall Lewis’ own work to show liow authors may suffer
by this mode of treatment.*
Take, for instance, the case of Himileo, who was sent
during the prosperous times of Carthage to examine the
north-western coasts of Europe. His writings have unfor-
tunately perished, and our knowledge of them, derived from
the “ Ora maritima,” a geographical poem by Avienus, is
thus summed up by Sir Cornewall Lewis : “ The report of
Himileo, that the voyage from Gades to the Tin Islands (i.e. to
Cornwall) occupied at least four months; and that navigation
in these remote waters was impeded by the motionless air, by
the abundance of seaweed, and by the monsters of the deep —
fables which the ancient mariners recounted of unexplored
seas — would not be very attractive for the traders of the
Carthaginian colonies.” This argument does not seem to
be quite satisfactory, because, if Himileo really did make this
voyage, then such voyages were possible ; and, on the other
hand, if he did not do so, and if his statements were such
mere fables, we may safely assume that the shrewd merchants
of Carthage would detect the imposition, and would extract
the truth, if not from Himileo himself, at any rate from
some of those by whom he was accompanied.
But let that pass ; we will examine the four “ fables ”
specially referred to by Sir G. C. Lewis. It is unnecessary
to say anything about the “motionless air;” it would be
doing an injustice to Sir Cornewall Lewis to suppose that
he regarded this as a serious objection. It may be an
invention, but it is not an improbability. Neither is the
time occupied by an exploring expedition any test of
that which would be required for a commercial voyage.
Nor will I lay any stress on the statement that Himilco’s
* In the long chapter which he de- Hieroglyphics, the name of Dr. Young
votes to the Egyptian Chronology and is not once mentioned.
38
PHOENICIAN VOYAGES. HIMILCO.
vessels were “ impeded ” by the monsters of the deep. What
Avienus really said was, as Sir Comewall Lewis admits in
another passage, that while becalmed and lying in a help-
leas state, the ships were “surrounded by marine monsters.”*
It might fairly be argued that whales were in all probability
more numerous on our coasts in ancient times than they are
now ; the great mammalia of the sea, as well as those of the
land, have given way before the overwhelming power of man.
But it is unnecessary to urge this hypothesis ; the great
monsters of the deep have in all ages appealed strongly to
the imagination of mankind, and no poet would fail to allude
to them in describing the dangers which beset those “ who
go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in
great waters.”
The third point alluded to by Sir Corncwall Lewis, so far
from throwing any doubt on the veracity of Himilco, appears
rathor to be an argument in his favor. Ilis ships, he says,
or at least Avienus says for him, were “ surrounded by sea-
weed.” Where was he when this took place? All that
we can say in answer to this question is, that he sailed
through the Pillars of Hercules into the Atlantic Ocean,
and we know, that a few days’ sail in this direction would
have brought him to the “ Mare di Sargasso,” a sea which
has actually taken its name from the quantity of sea-
weed growing in it. Sir C. Lewis says, “the notion of
remote seas being impassable by ships, either from their
shoals, or from the obstacles to navigation produced by the
semi-fluid and muddy properties of the water, frequently
recurs among the ancients;” and it is true, no doubt, that
statements of this kind are made by many ancient writers,
as for instance by Herodotus, Plato, Scylax, and even Aris-
totle; but not one of these writers alludes to “seaweed” as
an impediment to navigation, and it can hardly be acci-
* See Appendix.
PYTIIEAS.
39
dental, that the only voyager by whom this is referred to, was
one who sailed on a course which, if persevered in for a few
days, woidd have brought him to that which is even now'
known as the Sea of Seaweed.*
Pytheas is another ancient wrriter, whose character has
suffered very much in the hands of Sir C. Lew'is, who, rely-
ing on the authority of Polybius and Strabo, does not hesi-
tate to stigmatise him as a mendacious inypostor. Polybius
doubts the journeys of Pytheas, because Pytheas was a
poor man ; but the great travellers and explorers of the
present day do not generally belong to our wealthy fami-
lies. Strabo seems to have been prejudiced against Pytheas
because he professed to have visited countries, which ought,
according to Strabo's theory, to have been uninhabitable.
Moreover, we should remember that the first travellers in the
North must have seen, and on their return would describe,
many things W'hich would appear impossible or incomprehen-
sible to dwellers on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean.
Sir C. Lewis refers specially to four incredible assertions made
by Pytheas. First, he is said to have related that “if any per-
son placed iron in a rude state at the mouth of the volcano in
the island of Lipari, together with some money, he found on
the morrowr a sword or any other article which he wanted,
in its place.” This, however, merely show's that the myth of
Yaland, Wielant, Weland, or in our popular dialect, Wayland
Smith, was current in the Lipari islands at the time of Pytheas. f
This myth, moreover, is but a very slightly modified account
of what actually has taken place when an ignorant people,
living by the side of a more civilized race, and attributing
their superiority to magical arts, has been anxious to benefit
* May not the belief in the “Atlan- of the other causes which are usually
tis” be as probably owing to the ‘*gulf- assigned for it ?
weed," which would so naturally sug- + On this interesting subject, see
gest the idea of sunken land, as to any Wright. Archaiol. vol. xxxii. p. 315.
40
THOLE SUPPOSED BY NILSSON
by their necromancy, and yet afraid to come in contact with
the magicians themselves. Thus “ the Yeddahs of Ceylon,
when they wanted arrows, used to bring some flesh in the
night, and hang it up in a smith’s shop, also a leaf cut in
the form they will have their arrows made and hang by it ;
which if the smith do make according to their pattern, they
will requite and bring him more flesh.”* If our knowdedge
of this peculiar mode of barter had been derived from the
Yeddahs, it would undoubtedly have taken the form of the
old European myth. The metallurgists of old, to preserve
their monopoly, would evidently have a great interest in
keeping up this superstition.
Sir Cornewall Lewis, in the second place, accuses Pytheas
of having described the sea round the Lipari islands as being
in a boiling state. But we do not know what his exact words
were, and cannot fairly judge him, for it makes a great
difference whether he was repeating a statement made to
him, or making one on his own authority. Moreover, we
must remember that there have been submarine eruptions
in the Mediterranean, and that the Lipari islands lie be-
tween Mount Etna and Yesuvius, in the very centre of an
active volcanic area. These two mountains, which for the
last two thousand years have been more or less frequently
in eruption, seem to have enjoyed a long period of rest,
during which the Lipari islands served as a vent. It seems
to me therefore highly probable that this statement made
* Knox’s Historical Relation of the
Island Ceylon. London, 1681. Quoted
in the Ethnological Society’s Trans.,
vol. ii. p. 286, N.S. See also Sir J. E.
Tenncnt’s Ceylon, vol. i., p. 593. The
Belgian form of the myth as related by
Schmerling (Ossements fossiles, vol. i.,
p. 43) still more closely resembles the
account given by Knox. Speaking of
the caves near Liege, he says : “ Ces
ouvertures sont connues des kabitans de
l’endroit sous le nom dc Trous des
Sottais. 11s pretendent que jadis ces
grottes servaient d'habitation a une
espeec humaine d’une trhs petite taille,
Sottais, nains, pygmees, qui y vivaient
de leur industrie, et restauraient tout ce
qu’on deposait pres des ouvertures, a
condition que Von y ajoutat des vivres.
En tres peu de temps ces effets etaient
repares, et remis a la merae place.”
TO BE NORWAY.
41
by Pytheas was a perfectly truthful record of an actual
occurrence.
A third difficulty is the assertion, that round the island of
Thule, Pytheas saw a substance which was neither earth,
air, nor water, but a substance resembling- medusa) or jelly
fishes (7 rvevfxovi daXacrcnai ioL/cos), which could neither be
passed on foot nor in ships. This passage, which has com-
pletely puzzled southern commentators, is regarded by Pro-
fessor Nilsson as a striking evidence of Pytheas’ veracity.
When the sea in the north freezes, this does not happen
as in a pond or lake, but small separate plates of ice are
formed, and as soon as this process commences, the fisher-
men hurry to the shore, lest they should be caught in tho
ice, which for some time is too thick to permit the passage
of a boat, yet too weak to support the weight of a man. A
very similar description is given by Captain Lyon. “ We
came,” he says “ amongst young ice, in that state called
sludge, which resembles in appearance and consistency a far
better thing — lemon ice.. From this we came to small round
plates, of about a foot in diameter, which have the appear-
ance of the scales of gigantic fishes.”* Richardson also
particularly mentions the “ circular plates of ice, six or
eight inches in diameter.” t These discs of ice tossed about
by the waves suggested to Professor Nilsson himself, when
he first saw them, the idea of a crowd of medusa), and if we
imagine a southerner who had never before witnessed such
a phenomenon, and who on his return home wished to
describe it to his fellow-countrymen, it would have been
difficult to find an apter or more ingenious simile. It is, at
any rate, not more far-fetched or less appropriate than that
used by Ilerodotus, when, in order to describe a heavy snow-
storm, he compared it to a fall of feathers.
“ Fourthly,” says Sir C. Lewis, “ Pytheas affirmed that in
* Lyon’s Journal, p. 84. t Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 97.
42
PHOENICIAN COLONIES
returning from liis great northern voyage, in which lie first
obtained accounts of the remote island of Thule, he had
sailed alone: the entire coast of the Ocean between Gadeira
o
and the Tanais; that is from Cadiz round Spain, Gaul,
Germany, and Scythia, to the river Don, which was con-
sidered by the ancients as the boundary of Europe and Asia.
This statement furnishes an additional proof of the mendacity
of Pythcas, because it is founded on the belief, received in
his time, that Europe did not project far to the North, and
that the Ocean swept along its shores to the north of Scythia
and India.” Pythcas, however, did not, in reality, lay him-
self open to any such accusation ; the passage on which Sir
C. Lewis relies only affirms that after his return from the
north (eTrave\dw v ivdevhe) he travelled along the whole coast
of Europe from Cadiz to the Don. This, which evidently
refers to a second journey, is a very different statement, and
one which I see no reason to doubt.
According to Geminus, Pythcas went so far north that
the nights were only two or three hours long, and he adds
that the Barbarians took him to see the place where the sun
slept. These two statements seem to point to Donnas as
the northernmost point of his voyage. Here the shortest
night is two hours long, but behind the town is a mountain,
the top of which is the southernmost point from which the
midnight sun can be seen. The inhabitants took Professor
Nilsson here in the year 181 G, to show him the place where
the sun rested, just as they seem to have conducted Pytheas
to the same spot, for the same purpose, more than 2000 years
before. On this subject I will only add that Pytheas was no
mere traveller, but a distinguished astronomer, who, with
the help of the gnomon only, seems to have estimated the
latitude of Marseilles at 43° 17' 8", a calculation which only
differs by a few seconds from the result given by modern
astronomers — namely, 43° 17' 52".
AND COMMERCE.
43
I have dwelt at some length on this part of my subject, for
while we are all anxious to pay due honour to our modern
travellers, to Livingstone and Galton, to Speke and Grant,
we ought not to forget those who led the way. The memory
of great men is a precious legacy, which we cannot afford
lightly to surrender, and not the least valuable part of
Professor Nilsson’s work on the Bronze age is the chapter,
in which he has rescued the memory of Pytheas from the
cloud by which it has been so long and so unjustly obscured.
But even if Sir Cornewall Lewis could have established
his case, and destroyed our faith in these particular expe-
ditions, still there remain overwhelming proofs of an im-
portant and extended commerce in even more ancient times
than those of Pytheas or Ilimilco. The evidence of this
has been well put together by Dr. Smith,* of Camborne,
to whose work I would refer those who may wish for more
detailed information ; for the present I must content myself
with referring to a few well-known facts, which, however, will
be sufficient for my present purpose.
We know, then, that Marseilles was founded by the Phocean
Greeks B.c. 600 ; Carthage is supposed to have been built by
the Phoenicians about 800 b.c. ; and Utica, according to
Strabo and Pliny, about 300 years earlier still ; while, ac-
cording to Velleius Paterculus and Pomponius Mela, the city
of Gades (Cadiz) was founded by the Tyrians not long after
the fall of Troy. Before such facts as these, all d priori
improbability of Pytheas’ voyage to Norway falls to the
oTound. The distance between Cadiz and Phoenicia is more
than 2000 miles, and is greater than that between Cadiz and
Norway. Even, therefore, if Pytheas effected all that has
been claimed for him, he will not have made a longer voyage
than hundreds of his countrymen had done, a thousand years
before.
* The Cassiterides, by George Smith, LL.D.
44
BRONZE COMPOSED OF COPPER AND TIN.
The above-given dates must not, of course, be considered
as exact ; but there is no reason to doubt their general ac-
curacy. Not only do the writings of Ifesiod and Ilonier,
which certainly are not of a later date than 800 B.c.,
and probably somewhat earlier, show, that the nations on
the eastern shores of the Mediterranean were at that time
highly civilised, and had a considerable commerce, but we
have very valuable evidence of the same fact in the Biblical
narrative. Indeed, brass is mentioned in the fourth chapter
of Genesis, which would be, according to the chronology
of the established version) 3875 b.c. ; but there is so much
doubt about these dates, that I do not feel disposed to rely
on this isolated passage. The high civilisation of Egypt in
the time of Joseph is, however, apparent to every reader of the
book of Exodus. Again, when Solomon prepared to build
the temple in Jerusalem, he sent imto the king of Tyre for
cedar-trees out of Lebanon, “for thou knowest,” he said,
“ that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber
like unto the Sidonians ” (1 Kings v. G) ; and again we read,
(/. c. vii. 13, 14) that “King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram
out of Tyre. lie was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali,
and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass : and he
was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to
work all works in brass.” It is evident that the wrord which
here, and in so many other passages, is translated “brass,”
should rather be “ bronze.” This latter, which was the com-
mon metal of antiquity, is never mentioned in our version,
while on the other hand, the alloy which we now term brass,
and which is composed of copper and zinc, was not known
in ancient times.
Now this bronze, which from the wholly independent
statements of Homer and of the Book of Kings, we find
to have been so abundant in the East three thousand years
ago, was composed of copper and tin, in the proportions of
TIN OBTAINED FROM CORNWALL.
45
about nine parts of the former to one of the latter ; and the
question therefore arises, whence were these metals obtained?
Copper is found in so many countries, that we cannot, as
yet, form any definite opinion as to the source, or sources, from
which it was derived by the Phoenicians. Nevertheless, we
have every reason to hope, and expect, that we shall even-
tually be able to do so, because the slight impurities by which
it is accompanied, are different in different places, and Dr.
Fellenberg has published more than a hundred analyses
of ancient bronzes, which have already thrown some light
on this part of the subject. As regards tin, the case is
very different ; although ores of this metal are foimd in
other countries, as for instance in Saxony, and near
Nerchinsk, in Siberia, still almost all the tin now used is
derived either from Cornwall, or from the island of Banca,
which lies between Sumatra and Borneo. It has been
supposed that tin was at one time abundant in Spain,
but as Dr. Smith observes,* “ the most remarkable fea-
ture in tin mining seems to be the enduring character of
the mines. Wherever tin has been produced in any con-
siderable quantities, within the range of authentic history,
there it is still abundantly found. In Banca, we are told,
the supply is inexhaustible ; and Cornwall can now supply as
large a quantity annually as it ever could.” The result
of enquiries made of the Government Engineers, at the
College of Mines in Madrid, is as follows : “ I cannot learn
that Spain ever produced any quantity of this metal. The
Government do not work any mines of tin. The quantity
being produced at present is very small, chiefly by streamers ;
or rather labourers, while out of their regular employment,
search some of the rivers near the granite hills in Galicia
and in Zamora. I cannot learn that there is any tin mining
in the country.”
* l.c. p. 45.
46
AMBER FROM GERMAN OCEAN.
Unless, then, the ancients had some source of tin with
which we are unacquainted, it seems to he well established,
and is indeed admitted even by Sir Cornewall Lewis, that the
Phoenician tin was mainly, if not altogether, derived from
Cornwall, and, consequently, that even at this early period
a considerable commerce had been organised, and very dis-
tant countries brought into connexion with one another. Sir
C. Lewis, however, considers that the tin was “carried across
Gaul to Massilia, and imported thence into Greece and Italy.”
Doubtless, much of it did in late times come by this route,
but the Phoenicians were in the plenitude of their power
1200 years b.c., while Massilia was not built until 600 b.c.
Moreover, Strabo expressly says that in early times the
Phoenicians carried on the tin trade from Cadiz, which we
must remember was nearer to Cornwall than to Tyre or
Sidon.
We are, therefore, surely quite justified in concluding that
between B.c. 1500 and b.c. 1200, the Phoenicians sailed into
the Atlantic, and discovered the mineral fields of Spain and
Britain ; and, when we consider how well our South Coast
must have been known, to them, it is, I think, more than
probable that they pushed their explorations still farther, in
search of other shores as wealthy as ours. Indeed, we must
remember that amber, so much valued in ancient times,
could not have been obtained from any nearer source than
the coast of the German Ocean.
M. Morlot thinks that he has found traces of the Phoeni-
cians even in America, while Professor Nilsson has attempted,
as already mentioned, to show that they had settlements far
up on the northern shores of Norway. M. Morlot relies on
some antiquities, and particularly on certain glass beads,
found in American tumuli ; these, however, in the opinion
of Mr. Franks, may be mediaeval, and of Venetian origin.
Professor Nilsson’s arguments may be reduced to seven,
BAAL- WORSHIP IN NORTHERN EUROPE.
47
namely, the small size of the sword-handles, bracelets, etc. ;
the character of the ornaments on the bronze implements,
and the engravings in Bronze age tumuli ; the worship of
Baal ; certain peculiar methods of reaping and fishing ; and
the use of war chariots.
The implements and ornaments of bronze certainly appear
to have belonged to a race with smaller hands than those of
the present European nation ; the ornaments on them are
also peculiar, and have, in Professor Nilsson’s opinion, a
symbolic meaning. Although the great stones, in tumuli
of the Bronze age, are very seldom ornamented, or even
hewn into shape, still there are some few exceptions ; one
of these is the remarkable monument, near Kivik in Chris-
tianstad. From the general character of the engravings
Professor Nilsson has no hesitation in referring this tumulus
to the Bronze age, and on two of the stones are represen-
tations of human figures, which may fairly he said to have
a Phoenician, or Egyptian appearance.
On another of the stones, an obelisk is represented, which
Professor Nilsson regards as symbolical of the Sun-God; and
it is certainly remarkable that in an ancient ruin in Malta,
characterised by other decorations of the Bronze age types,
a somewhat similar obelisk was discovered : we know also,
that in many countries Baal, the God of the Phoenicians, was
worshipped under the form of a conical stone.
Nor is this, by any means, the only case in which Professor
Nilsson finds traces of Baal worship in Scandinavia. Indeed,
the festival of Baal, or Balder, was, he tells us, celebrated on
Midsummer’s night in Scania, and far up into Norway, almost
to the Loffoden Islands, until within the last fifty years. A
wood fire was made upon a hill or mountain, and the people
of the neighbourhood gathered together in order, like Baal’s
prophets of old, to dance round it, shouting and singing.
This Midsummer’s-night-fire has even retained in some
48
QUESTION STILL DOUBTFUL.
parts the ancient name of “ Baldcrsbal,” or Baldersfire.
Leopold von Buch long ago suggested, that this custom
could not have originated in a country where at Midsummer
the sun is never lost sight of, and where, consequently, the
smoke only, not the fire, is visible. A similar custom also
prevailed until lately in some parts of our islands. Baal
has given his name to many Scandinavian localities, as, for
instance, the Baltic, the Great and Little Belt, Belteberga,
Baleshaugen, Balestrandcn, etc.
The ornamentation characteristic of the Bronze age, is, in
the opinion of Professor Nilsson, decidedly Semitic, rather
than Indo-European. lie lays considerable stress on two
curious vase-carriages, one found in Sweden and the other
in Mecklenburg, which certainly appear to have been very
like the “ vases” made for Solomon’s temple, and described
in the first Book of Kings. Finally, he believes that the
use of war chariots, the practice of reaping close to the
ear, and a certain method of fishing, are all evidences of
Phoenician intercourse.
Professor Nilsson is so great an authority, as an archaeo-
logist his labors have contributed so much to place the
science on a sound basis, that his opinions are deserving of
the most careful consideration. Nor can they fairly be
judged by the very short abstract which has been given
above, as many of his arguments must be followed in detail
before they can be properly appreciated. That the Phoe-
nicians have left their traces in Norway is, however, in my
opinion, all that can fairly be deduced from the facts on
which he relies, even if we attribute to them all the signi-
ficance claimed for them by him. Farther eyidence is re-
quired, before it would be safe to connect them with the
Bronze age. As regards the smallness of the hands, we
must remember that Hindoos share this peculiarity with
Egyptians; this character is therefore as reconcileable with
BRONZE AGE CIVILISATION.
49
an Indo-European, as with a Phoenician origin of the Bronze
age civilisation.
Moreover, there are two strong objections to the theory so
ably advocated by Professor Nilsson. The first is the cha-
racter of the ornamentation on the bronze weapons and im-
plements. This almost always consists of geometrical figures,
and we rarely, if ever, find upon them representations of
animals or plants; while on the ornamented shields, etc., de-
scribed by Ilomcr, as well as in the decoration of Solomon’s
temple, animals and plants were abundantly represented.
Secondly, the Phoenicians, so far as we know them, were
well acquainted with the use of iron ; in Homer we find the
warriors already armed with iron weapons, and the tools
used in preparing the materials for Solomon’s temple, were
of this metal. It is very remarkable, that scarcely any
traces of ancient commerce have been found in Cornwall,
and it is much to be regretted that our museums possess
so few specimens of Phoenician art. When these wants shall
have been supplied, as we may hope that ere long they will
be, there is no doubt that much light will be thrown on the
subject.
The form of the head also would be very instructive ; but,
owing to the unfortunate habit of burning the dead which
prevailed at that period, we have, as yet, very few skulls
which can safely be referred to the Bronze age, and, on the
whole, we must admit that, for the present, the evidence is
not sufficient to justify us in expressing any very definite
opinion as to the source of the Bronze age civilisation.
It is evident that a people who had acquired so fair a
proficiency in metallurgy and manufactures, who showed so
much taste in adorning the living, and so much reverence
in their disposition of the dead, must have had some ideas
of architecture and religion, although we have not, hitherto,
found any evidence either of a coinage or an alphabet. As
4
50
BRONZE AGE ARCHITECTURE.
vet, however, their architecture is almost unknown to us.
Doubtless, among the numerous camps, fortifications, stone
circles, etc., which still remain, there are some which belong
to this period, but the difficulty is to fix upon them. The
only remains of dwellings, which we can with any confidence
Fjg. 60.
Staigue Fort — Kerry.
refer to the Bronze age, are some of the Lake-villages, which
will be described in a future chapter. A large proportion
of the ancient fortifications, as, for instance, Staigue Fort
(fig. 60), belong, almost without a doubt, to a much later
period.
My own impression is, that both Abury and Stonehenge, —
the two greatest monuments of their kind, not only in Eng-
land, but even in Europe, belong to this period. The his-
torical account, if I may use such an expression, of Stone-
henge is, that it was erected by Aurelius Ambrosius, in
memory of the British chieftains, treacherously murdered
by Hengist and the Saxons, about the year 460. Giraldus
Cambrensis, writing at the close of the twelfth century,
says, “ That there was in Ireland, in ancient times, a
pile of stones worthy of admiration, called the Giants’
Dance, because Giants, from the remotest parts of Africa,
brought them into Ireland ; and in the plains of Kildare, not
far from the castle of Naas, as well by force of art, as
strength, miraculously set them up ; and similar stones,
erected in a like manner, are to be seen there at this day.
STONEHENGE.
51
It is wonderful how so many and such large stones could
have been collected in one place, and by what artifice they
could have been erected ; and other stones, not less in size,
placed upon such large and lofty stones, which appear, as it
were, to be so suspended in the air, as if by the design of the
workmen, rather than by the support of the upright stones.
These stones (according to the British history) Aurelius
Ambrosius, king of the Britons, procured Merlin, by super-
natural means, to bring from Ireland into Britain. And
that he might have some famous monument of so great a
treason to future ages, in the same order and art as they
stood formerly, set them up where the flower of the British
nation fell by the cut-throat practice of the Saxons, and
where, under the pretence of peace, the ill-secured youth of
the kingdom, by murderous designs, were slain.”*
This account is clearly mythical. Moreover, the very name
of Stonehenge, seems to me a very strong argument against
those who attribute to it so recent an origin. It is generally
considered to mean the Hanging-stones, as indeed was long-
ago suggested by Wace, an Anglo-Norman poet, who says,
Stanhengues ont nom en Englois
Pieres pandues en Francois, f
but it is surely more natural to derive the last syllable from
the Anglo-Saxon word “ ing,” a field ; as we have Keston,
originally Kyst-staning, the field of stone coffins. What
more natural, than that a new race, finding this magnificent
ruin, standing in solitary grandeur on Salisbury Plain, and
able to learn nothing of its origin, should call it simply
the place of stones ? what more unnatural, than that they
should do so, if they knew the name of him, in whose honor
it was erected ? The plan, also, of Stonehenge seems to be a
sufficient reason for not referring it to post-Homan times. It
* Giraldus. Topogr. of Ireland,
f Wright’s Wanderings of an Antiquary, p. 301.
52
STONEHENGE.
has, indeed, been urged that if Stonehenge had existed in the
time of Cffisar, we should find it mentioned by ancient writers.
Hecataeus, however, does allude to a magnificent circular
temple, in the island of the Hyperboreans, over against Cel-
tica, and many archaeologists have confidently assumed that
this refers to Stonehenge. But why should we expect to
find it described, if it was, as we suppose, even at that time
a ruin, more perfect no doubt than at this day, but still a
ruin ? The Caledonian Wall was a most important fortifi-
cation, constructed by the Romans themselves, and yet, as
Dr. Wilson tells us,* only one of the Roman historians makes
the least allusion to its erection.
It is evident, that Stonehenge was at one time a spot of
great sanctity. A glance at the ordnance map will show,
that tumuli cluster in great numbers round, and within sight
of it ; within a radius of three miles, there are about three
hundred burial mounds, while the rest of the country is
comparatively free from them. If, then, we could detennine
the date of these tumuli, wc should be justified, I think,
in referring, the Great Temple itself to the same period.
Now, of these barrows, Sir Richard Colt Iloare examined
a groat number, 151 of which had not been previously
opened. Of these, the great majority contained inter-
ments by cremation, in the manner usual during the Bronze
age. Only two contained any iron weapons, and these were
both secondary interments ; that is to say, the owners of the
iron weapons were not the original occupiers of the tumuli.
Of the other burial mounds, no less than 39 contained objects
of bronze, and one of them, in which were found a spear-
head, and pin of bronze, was still more connected with the
temple by the presence of fragments, not only of Sarcen
stones, but also of the blue stones which form the inner circle
at Stonehenge ; and which, according to Sir R. C. Hoare,
* Pre-historic Ann. of Scot. vol. ii. p. 39. i
Ground Plan of Abury. From Dr. Thurnam’s paper on a Lons? Barrow at West Rennet ( Yrchseologia, vol. xxxviii. p. 40G).
A BURY.
53
<lo not naturally occur in Wiltshire. Under these circum-
stances, we may surely refer Stonehenge to the Bronze age.
Abury is much less known than Stonehenge, and yet,
though a rud§r, it must have been originally even a grander
temple. According to Aubrey, Abury “did as much ex-
ceed Stonehenge as a cathedral does a parish church.”
When perfect, it consisted of a circular ditch and em-
bankment, containing an area of 28 1 acres ; inside the ditch
was a circle of great stones, and within this, again, two smaller
circles, formed by a double row of similar stones, standing side
by side. From the outer embankment, started two long
winding avenues of stones, one of which went in the direc-
tion of Beckhampton, and the other in that of Kennet, where
it ended in another double circle. Stukely supposed that the
idea of the whole was that of a snake transmitted through a
circle ; the Kennet circle representing the head, the Beck-
hampton avenue the tail. Midway between the two avenues,
stood Silbury Hill, the largest artificial mound in Great
Britain, measuring no less than 170 feet in height.
From its position, it appears to form part of the general
plan, and though it has been twice examined, no primary
interment has been found in it. On the whole, this appears
to have been the finest megalithic ruin in Europe ; but, un-
fortunately for us, the pretty little village of Abury, like
some beautiful parasite, has grown up at the expense, and in
the midst, of the ancient temple, and out of 650 great stones,
not above 20 are still standing.
In a very interesting article,* Mr. Fergusson has attempted to
prove, that both Stonehenge and Abury belong to post-Roman
times. Some of his arguments I have already replied to, in dis-
cussing the age of Stonehenge. There is one, however, which
relates specially to Silbury Hill. “ The Roman road,” he
says, “from Bath to Marlborough, either passes under the hill,
%/ '
* Quarterly Review, July, 1860, p. 209.
•54
SILBURY IIII.I,
or makes a sudden bend to get round it in a manner that no
Roman road, in Britain at least, was ever known to do
No one standing on Oldborough Down, and casting his eye
along its straight unbending line, can avoid seeing that it
runs straight at the centre of Silbury Hill. It is true, it may
have diverged just before hitting it, but nothing can be more
unlikely. It would have been just as easy for the Roman
engineer to have carried its arrow-like course a hundred
yards to the right. This, indeed, would have been a prefer-
able line, looked at from a Roman point of view, — straight
for Marlborough, to which it was tending, and fitting better
to a fragment of the road, found beyond the village of
Kennet. But all this was disregarded, if the hill existed at
that time, and the road runs straight at its heart, as if on
purpose to make a sharp turn to avoid it, — a thing as ab-
horrent to a Roman road-maker, as a vacuum is said to be to
nature. From a careful examination of all the circumstances
of the case, the conclusion seems inevitable, that Silbury Hill
stands on the Roman road, and consequently must have been
erected subsequently to the time of the Romans leaving the
country.”
Startled by this argument, and yet satisfied that there must
be some error, I turned to the ordnance map, and found, to
my surprise, that the Roman road was distinctly laid down
as passing, not under, but at the side of, Silbury Hill. Not
content with this, I persuaded Professor Tyndall to visit the
locality with me, and we convinced ourselves that upon this
point the map was quite correct. The impression on our
minds was, that the Roman engineer, in constructing the
road from Morgans Hill, had taken Silbury Hill as a point to
steer for, swerving only just before reaching it. Moreover,
the map will show that not only this Roman road, but some
others in the same part of England, are less straight than is
usually the case.
MORE ANCIENT THAN THE ROMAN ROAD.
55
Mr. Fergusson admits, in the passage just quoted, that
the pieces of the road, on the two sides of Silbury Hill, are
not in the same straight line, so that by his own showing
there must have been a bend somewhere. On the whole,
therefore, I quite agree with old Stukeley, that the Roman
road curved abruptly southwards, to avoid Silbury Hill, and
that “ this shows Silbury Hill was ancienter than the
Roman road.”*
How much more ancient, it is impossible to say. Stukeley
thinks it was founded in 1859 b.c., the year of the death of
Sarah, Abraham’s wife. It is wiser to confess our ignorance,
than to waste valuable time in useless guesses. Still, as the
stones of Stonehenge are roughly hewn, and as this is not
the case with any of those at Abury, it seems reasonable
to conclude, with Sir R. C. Hoare, and other able archaeolo-
gists, that Abury was the older of the two ; and those who
are disposed to agree with me, in referring Stonehenge to the
later part of the Bronze age, will perhaps also do so in attri-
buting Abury to the commencement, or at least the earlier
portion, of the same period, for, though far from impossible,
it is hardly probable, that so great a work should belong to
the Stone age.f
* Mr. Blandford, who superintended
the opening of the Hill in 1849, came
also to the same conclusion.
f It is impossible to mention Abury,
without regretting that so magnificent
a national monument should have been
destroyed, for a paltry profit of a few
pounds. As population increases, and
land grows more valuable, these ancient
monuments become more and more
liable to mutilation or destruction.
We cannot afford them the protec-
tion of our museums, nor, perhaps,
would it be desirable to do so, but it
is well worthy of consideration whether
Government would not act wisely
in selecting some competent archaeolo-
gist, who might be appointed Con-
servator of the National Antiquities ;
whose duty it would be to preserve, as
far as possible, from wanton injury,
the graves of our ancestors, and other
interesting memorials of the past ; to
make careful drawings of all those
which have not yet been figured, and
to report, from time to time, as to their
condition. At a very trifling expense
the Danish Government have bought
for the nation a large number of tumuli,
and have thus preserved many national
monuments which would otherwise have
been destroyed.
56
STONE CIRCLES.
There is not, as yet, any satisfactory evidence either as to
the age or origin of the great stone-circles. They are con-
sidered by most antiquaries to have been originally temples :
some, however, are rather disposed to regard them as courts of
law, or battle-rings. Dr. Wilson* tells us that Mr. George
Petrie has called his attention to several cases, in which the
Orkney circles have been thus used, in comparatively modern
times. In 1349, William de Saint Michael was summoned
to attend a court held “ apud stantes lapides de Pane en le
Gamiach,” to answer for his forcible detention of certain
ecclesiastical property ; and in 1380, Alexander, Lord of
Pegality of Badenoch, and son of Robert II., held a court
“apud le standand stanys de la Rathe de Kyngucy Estir,”
to enquire into the titles, by which the Bishop of Moray
held certain of his lands. Even so late as the year 1438, we
find a notice, that “John off Erwyne and Will. Bernardson
swor on the Hirdmane Stein before oure Lorde ye Erie off
Orknay and the gentiless off the cuntre.” Opinions, how-
ever, will differ, as to how far this comparatively recent
use of the stone circles justifies us in forming an opinion,
vith regard to the purpose for which they were originally
intended. Megalithic erections, resembling those which are
generally, but hastily, ascribed to the Druids, are found
in very different countries. Mr. Maurice f was, I believe,
the first to point out, that in some parts of India, there
are various monuments of stone, which “recal strongly
those mysterious, solitary, or clustered monuments of un-
known origin, so long the puzzle and delight of antiquaries,
which abound in our native country, and are seen here and
there in all parts of Europe and Western Asia.”
Mr. Fergusson goes farther, and argues with great in-
genuity that the “Buddhist architecture in India, as prac-
• Pre-historic Annals of Scotland, second edition, vol. i p. 164.
t India Antiqua.
STONE CIRCLES, ETC. IN INDIA.
57
tised from the third. century B.c. to seventh a.d., is essentially
tumular, circular, and external, thus possessing the three
great characteristics of all the so-called Druidical remains.”*
These resemblances, indeed, are too great to he accidental, and
the differences represent, not so much a difference in style, as
in civilisation. Thus, the tumuli of India, though sometimes
of earth, are “ generally of rubble masonry internally, and of
hewn stone or brick on the external surface, and originally
were apparently always surrounded by a circular enclosure of
upright stones, though in later times this came to be attached
to the building as an ornamental band, instead of an inde-
pendent feature. In the most celebrated example in India,
that at Sanchee, the circle consists of roughly squared up-
right stone posts, joined at the top by an architrave of the
same thickness as the posts, exactly as at Stonehenge ; the
only difference being the insertion of three stone rails be-
tween each of the uprights, which is a masonic refinement
hardly to be expected, among the Celts.” In India, then,
the circles of stones seem generally to have surrounded
tumuli ; but this is not always the case, and there are
some, “ which apparently enclose nothing.” Again, they
are generally covered with sculpture ; but to this also there
are exceptions, as, for instance, at Amravati, where there are
numberless little circles of rude unhewn stone, identical with
those in this country, but smaller.”
The greafvstones at Stonehenge are, as we know, roughly
hewn, and there is a very remarkable cromlech, near Con-
folens in Charente, in which the upper stone is supported,
not on rude stone blocks, but on four slender columns.”!
At this stage, the Druidical architecture in Western Europe
was replaced by a totally different style, while in India, on
the contrary, it was permitted to follow its natural course of
development ; so that it requires an observant eye to detect,
* l. c. p. 212. t Statestique Monuraentale de la Charente.
58
STONE CIRCLES IN PALESTINE
in the rude cromlechs, stone circles, and tumuli, the proto-
types of the highly decorated architecture of the Buddhists.
It is a very remarkable fact that even to the present day,
some of the hill tribes in India continue to erect cromlechs,
and other combinations of gigantic stones, sometimes in rows,
sometimes in circles, in either case very closely resembling
those found in Western Europe. Among the Ivhasias,* “the
funeral ceremonies are the only ones of any importance, and
are often conducted with barbaric pomp and expense ; and
rude stones of gigantic proportions are erected as monuments,
singly or in rows, circles, or supporting one another like
those of Stonehenge, which they rival in dimensions and
appearance.”
Those who believe that the use of metal was introduced
into Europe by a race of Indo-European origin, will find, in
these interesting facts a confirmation of their opinion ; but,
on the other hand, Professor Nilsson might appeal to pas-
sages in the Old Testament, which show the existence of
similar customs, if not among the Phoenicians, at least
among their neighbours. Thus, we are told in Genesis
xxxi. that “Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar;”
and in verse 51, “Laban said to Jacob, behold this heap,
and behold this pillar, which I have cast between me and
thee. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness,
that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou
shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar to ?ie, to do me
harm,” etc. At Mount Sinai, Moses erected twelve pillars.f
And so, again, when the children of Israel had crossed over
Jordan, Joshua took twelve stones and pitched them in
Gilgal. “And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying,
When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come,
saying, What mean these stones ? Then ye shall let your
* Dr. Hooker’s Himalayan Journal, vol. ii., p. 276. See also p. 320.
f Ex. xxiv. 4.
AND ALGERIA.
59
children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry
land.”* In Moab, De Saulcy observed rude stone avenues,
and other monuments, which he compares to Celtic dolmens ;
and Stanley saw, a few miles to the north of Tyre, a circle of
rough upright stones.
Remains, more or less similar, occur, however, in very dif-
ferent parts of the world ; thus, in Algeria MM. II. Christy
and L. Feraudf have recently examined a large number of
cromlechs, stone-circles, and other ancient remains, very
closely resembling those, which, in Northern Europe, we have
been in the habit of ascribing to the Druids. They occur in
great numbers ; indeed, in the neighbourhood of Constantine,
MM. Christy and Feraud saw more than a thousand, in three
days. They opened fourteen of the cromlechs, all of which
turned out, as might have been expected, to be places of
burial. The corpse had been deposited in a contracted
position, accompanied sometimes by rings of copper or iron,
worked flints, and fragments of pottery ; in one case even
by a coin of Faustina, who lived in the second century after
Christ.
Again, Arctic travellers mention stone-circles, and stone-
rows, among the Esquimaux, though it would appear that
these stone-circles are quite small, and merely form the lower
part of their habitations.
Thus, then, it is evident that similar monuments have been
erected in very different countries, and at very different
periods ; generally, however, in honor of some distinguished
man, or to commemorate some great event.
* Joshua iv. 21, 22.
f Recueil des notices et Memoires de la Societe Archeologique de la Province
de Constantine, 1863, p. 214.
60
CHAPTER III.
THE USE OF STONE IN ANCIENT TIMES.
THE preceding chapters have been devoted to the, age
of Bronze. We must now revert to still earlier times
and ruder races of men ; to a period which, for obvious
reasons, is called by archaeologists the Stone age.
The Stone age, however, if by this we signify merely the
ante-metallic period, falls naturally, as has been already
stated, into two great divisions.
First. The period of the drift, which I have proposed to
call the Archoeolithic period.
Secondly. The Neolithic, or later Stone age, which we must
now consider, in which the stone implements are more skil-
fully made, more varied in form, and often polished.
The immense number of stone implements which occur, in
all parts of the world, is sufficient evidence of the im-
portant part they played in ancient times. M. Ilerbst has
favored me with the following interesting statement of the
number of stone and bone implements in the Copenhagen
Museum :
Flint axes and wedges 1070
Broad Chisels 285
Hollow ditto 270
Narrow chisels 365
Hollow ditto 33
Poniards 250
Lance-heads 656
10
THE GREAT ABUNDANCE OF STONE IMPLEMENTS.
61
Arrow-heads 171
Halfmoon shaped implements 205
Pierced axes and axe-hammers 746
Flint flakes 300
Sundries 489
4840
Rough stone implements from the
Ivjokkenmoddings 3678
Bone implements 171
Ditto from Kjokkemnoddings 109
8798
And if duplicates and broken specimens were counted, he
thinks that the number would be between 11,000 and
12,000. He has also had the kindness to estimate for me
the numbers in private and provincial museums, and, on
the whole, he believes we shall be within the mark, if
we consider that the Danish museums contain 30,000 stone
implements, to which moreover must be added the rich
stores at Flensborg and Kiel, as well as the very numer-
ous specimens with which the liberality of the Danish
archaeologists has enriched other countries ; so that there
is scarcely any important collection in Europe, which does
not possess some illustrations of the Danish stone implements.
The museum of the Koval Irish Academy includes nearly
700 flint flakes, 512 celts, more than 400 arrow-heads, and
50 spear-heads, besides 75 “scrapers/’ and numerous other
objects of stone, such as slingstones, hammers, whetstones,
querns, grain-crushers, etc. Again, the museum at Stockholm
is estimated to contain between 15,000 and 16,000 specimens.
The very existence, however, of a Stone age is, or has
lately been, denied by some eminent archaeologists. Thus
Mr. Wright, the learned Secretary of the Ethnological So-
ciety, while admitting that “ there may have been a period
62
STONE USED AFTER DISCOVERY OF METAL.
when society was in so barbarous a state that sticks or
stones were the only implements with which men knew how
to furnish themselves,” doubts “ if the antiquary has yet
found any evidence of such a period.” And though the
above figures are sufficient to prove that stone was at one
time used for many implements, which we now make of metal,
this is not in itself a conclusive answer to Mr. Wright, nor
in fact would it be denied by that gentleman. Moreover,
there is no doubt, that in early ages stone and metal were
used at the same time, the first by the poor, the second by
the rich.
If we consider the difficulties of mining in early days,
the rude implements with which men had then to work,
their ignorance of the many ingenious methods, by which
the operations of modern miners are so much facilitated,
and, finally, the difficulties of carriage either by land or
water, it is easy to see that bronze implements must have
been very expensive.
In addition, moreover, to the a priori probability, there is
plenty of direct evidence, that bronze and stone were in use
at the same time. Thus, Mr. Bateman records thirty-seven
instances of tumuli which contained objects of bronze, and
in no less than twenty-nine of these, stone implements also
were found. At the time of the discovery of America, the
Mexicans, though well acquainted with the use of bronze,
still used flakes of obsidian for knives and Tazors, and even
after the introduction of iron, stone was still used for various
purposes.
Still, however, there appears, to be enough evidence to jus-
tify us in believing, not only that there was a period “ when
society was in so barbarous a state that sticks or stones,” (to
which we must add horns and bones) “were the only imple-
ments with which men knew how to furnish themselves,” but
also that the antiquary has foimd sufficient “evidence of such
MATERIAL PREFERRED FOR STONE IMPLEMENTS.
63
a period.” Part, at least, of this evidence will be found in the
following pages ; and though it is true that much of it has
been obtained since our accomplished countryman published
the work from which I have just quoted, yet he has recently
repeated his previous statements in a lecture delivered at
Leeds.
Our knowledge of this ancient period is derived princi-
pally from four sources, to the consideration of which I
propose to devote the four following chapters ; namely,
the tumuli, or ancient burial-mounds, the Lake habitations
of Switzerland, the Kj okkenmoddings, or shell -mounds,
of Denmark, and the Bone-Caves. There are, indeed,
other remains of great interest, such, for example, as the
ancient fortifications, the “ castles ” and “ camps ” which
crown so many of our hill-tops, and the great lines of
embankment, such as the Wansdyke, which cross so many
of our downs, where they have been spared by the plough ;
there are the so-called druidical circles, and the vestiges
of ancient habitations ; the “ Hut-circles,” “ Cloghauns,”
“Weems,” “Piets’ houses,” etc. The majority of these
belong, however, in all probability, to a later period ; and
at any rate, in the present state of our knowledge, we can-
not say which, or how many of them, are referable to the
Stone age.
As far as the material is concerned, every kind of stone,
which was hard and tough enough for the purpose, was
used in the manufacture of implements. The magnificent
collection of celts at Dublin has been specially studied, from
a mineralogical point of view, by the Rev. S. ITaughton, and
the results are thus recorded by Wilde.*
“ Of the better qualities of rock suited for celt-making,
the type of the felspathic extreme of the series of trap rocks
is the pure felstone, or petrosilex, of a pale blueish
* Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 72.
64
FRACTURE OF FLINT.
or grayish, green, except where the surface has been acted
upon, and the average composition of which is 25 parts
quartz and 75 felspar. Its physical characters are absence
of toughness, and the existence of a splintery conchoidal
fracture almost as sharp as that of flint At the
hornblendic extreme of the trap rocks we find the basalt, of
which also celts were made ; tough and heavy, the siliceous
varieties having a splintery fracture, but never affording so
cutting an edge as the former Intermediate in
character between these two rocks, we find all the varieties of
felstone, slate and porphyry streaked with hornblende, from
which the great majority of the foregoing implements have
been made.”
On the whole, however, flint appears to have been the
stone most often used in Europe, and it has had a much
more important influence on our civilisation than is generally
supposed. Savages value it on account of its hardness
and mode of fracture, which is such that, with practice, a
good sound block can be chipped into almost any form
that may be required. If we take a rounded hammer, and
strike with it on a flat surface of flint, a conoidal fracture
is produced ; the size of which depends, in a great measure,
on the form of the hammer. The surface of fracture is
propagated downwards through the flint, in a diverging
direction, and thus embraces a cone, whose apex is at the
point struck by the hammer, and which can afterwards be
chipped out of the mass. Flint cones, formed in this way,
may sometimes be found in heaps of stones broken up to
mend the roads, and have doubtless often been mistaken for
casts of fossil shells.
If a blow is given, not on a flat surface, but at the angle
of a more or less square flint, the fracture is at first semi-
conoidal or nearly so, but after expanding for a short dis-
tance, it becomes flat, and may be propagated through a
FRACTURE OF FLINT.
65
length of as much as ten inches, thus forming a blade-like
flake (figs. 62-69), with a triangular cross section (fig. 70).
The consequence is, that a perfect flint flake will always have
a small bulb, or projection (fig. 63 a) at the butt end, on the
flat side ; this has been called the bulb, or cone of percussion.
After the four original angles of a square block have been thus
flaked ofF, the eight new angles may be treated in a simi-
lar manner, and so on. Fig. 61, and pi. 1, fig. 6, represent
blocks, or cores, from
which flakes have been
struck off. A flake it-
self is represented in pi.
l,fig. 7, and a very large
one from Fannerup in
J utland is figured, one-
Fio. 61.
Fio. 62.
Fio. 63.
Fio. 64.
Flint core or nucleus. Flint Flake— Denmark.
half of the natural size, in figs. 62-64. The bulb is shown
66
flint flakes.
in figs. 63 a and 64, and the flake has been worked into a
point at the end. Fig. 65 is an arrow-shaped flake from
Fig. 65.
Ireland, in which the butt end has been chipped away,
apparently to adapt it to a handle or shaft.
Fig. 66. Fig. 67. Fl°- 68-
Flint Flakes— Denmark.
Figs. 66-69 are small Danish flakes ; forms exactly simi-
lar might be found in any country where the ancient in-
habitants could obtain flint or obsidian. In fig. 66, we see
FLINT FLAKES.
67
that another flake had been previously taken from the same
block. Figs. 67, 68, represent flakes, of which the points
have been broken off, but we see along their whole length
the depression caused by the removal of a previous
flake. The section of
as to overlap two previous flakes, as in the case of the one
represented in fig. 69. In this instance, the section is penta-
gonal ; the flat under surface remaining always the same,
but the upper side showing four facets.
Easy as it may seem to make such flakes as these, a little
practice will convince any one who attempts to do so, that a
certain knack is required, and that it is also necessary to be
careful in the selection of the flint. It is therefore evident
that these flint flakes, simple as they may appear, are always
the work of man. To make one, the flint must be held
firmly, and then a considerable force must be applied, either
by pressure or by blows, repeated three or four times, but at
least three, and given in certain slightly different directions,
with a certain definite force ; conditions which could scarcely
occur in nature ; so that, simple as it may seem to the un-
trained eye, a flint flake is to the antiquary as sure a trace of
man, as the footprint in the sand was to Robinson Crusoe.
It is hardly necessary to say, that the flakes have a sharp
cutting edge on each side, and might therefore be at once
used as knives : they are indeed so named by some archae-
oloo-ists: but it seems to me more convenient to call them
simply flakes, and to confine the name of knife to imple-
STONE HATCHETS.
68
ments more especially intended and adapted for cutting
purposes.
Many of the flakes were certainly never intended to serve
as knives, but were chipped up into saws, awls, or arrow-
heads. Many savages use flint, or chert, in this manner,
even at the present day, and the Mexicans in the time of
Cortez used precisely similar fragments of obsidian.
Next to flint flakes, axes, wedges, or celts, are, perhaps, of
most importance. The largest and finest specimens are found
in Denmark ; one in my possession, of beautiful white flint, is
fig. 71. 13in. long, l^in. thick, and 3|in. in
breadth. The Seeland axes have very
often, indeed generally, perpendicular
sides; in Jutland a large proportion
have sloping sides ; this is also gene-
rally the case in other parts of North-
Western Europe. In Switzerland, how-
ever, the axes, which are much smaller
than those from Denmark, have per-
pendicular sides ( fig.
120). The common
Danish axe or wedge
is figured in pi. 1, fig.
1. Figs. 71 and 72,
represent forms which ,
though rare in Seeland,
are common in other
parts of Europe. Those
found in Denmark are
sometimespolisked, but
almost, if not quite, as
Stone Axes-Ireland. often, Jeft rougl1_ Qn
the contrary, in other parts of North-Western Europe, the
axes are usually ground to a more or less smooth surface.
STONE HATCHETS.
69
Fio. 73.
V
That they were fixed in wooden handles is evident, in many
specimens, from peculiar polished spaces, which have been
produced by the friction of the wood. In almost all cases,
the wooden handle has long perished, but there are one or
two instances on record, in which it has been
preserved. Fig. 73 represents a stone hatchet,
found, some years ago, in the County of Mona-
ghan ; the handle was of pine, and was 13|in.
long. Horn handles have been frequently
found in the Swiss Lakes. To us, accustomed
as we are to the use of metals, it seems difficult
to believe that such things were ever made use
of ; we know, however, that many savages of
the present day have no better tools. Yet,
with axes such as these, and generally with
the assistance of fire, they will cut down large
trees, and hollow them out into canoes. The
piles used in the Swiss Stone age Lake-habi-
tations were evidently, from the form of the cuts on them,
prepared with the help of stone axes ; and in the Danish
peat bogs, several trees have been found, with the marks
of stone axes, and of fire, upon them, and in one or two cases
stone celts have even been found lying at the side.
That they were also weapons of war is probable, not only on
a priori grounds, but also because they have frequently been
found in the graves of chiefs, associated with bronze daggers.
About the year 1809, a large cairn in Kirkcudbrightshire,
popularly supposed to be the tomb of a King Aldus M’Galdus,
was removed by a farmer. “When the cairn had been re-
moved, the workmen came to a stone coffin of very rude
workmanship, and on removing the lid, they found the
skeleton of a man of uncommon size. The bones were in
such a state of decomposition, that the ribs and vertebrae
crumbled into dust on attempting to lift them. The remain-
stone Celt in handle.
70
SCRAPERS.
ing bones being more compact, were taken out, when it was
discovered that one of the arms had been almost separated
from the shoulder by the stroke of a stone axe, and that a
fragment of the axe still remained in the bone. The axe
had been of greenstone, a material which does not occur in
this part of Scotland. There were also found with this
skeleton a ball of flint, about three inches in diameter, which
was perfectly round and highly polished, and the head of an
Scrapers.
arrow, also of flint, but not a particle of any metallic
substance.”*
Another class of stone hatchets are those which are pierced
for the handle, as in pi. 1, fig. 2. From the nature of flint,
* New Statist. Acc. Kirkcudbrightshire, vol. iv., p. 332. Quoted hy Wilson,
Prehis. Ann. of Scotland, 2d ed. vol. i., p. 187.
SCRAPERS.
71
these were scarcely ever made of that material. There are,
however, in Copenhagen two such hatchets, in which ad-
vantage has been ingeniously taken of a natural hole in the
flint. It is very doubtful, whether this class of implements
truly belongs to the Stone age. The pierced axes are
generally found in graves of the Bronze period, and it is
most probable that this mode of attaching the handle was
used very rarely, if at all, until the discovery of metal had
rendered the process far more easy than could have been the
case previously.
The so-called “scrapers,” (figs. 74, 75, 105, 106), are
oblong stones, rounded at one end, which is brought to a
bevelled edge by a series of small blows. One side is flat,
the other, or outer, one is more or less convex ; sometimes
they have a short handle, which gives them very much the
appearance of a spoon. They have been found in England,
France, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland and other countries.
Fig. 76. Fig. 77. Fig. 78.
Esquimaux Scraper.
They vary from one to four inches in length, and from half
an inch to two inches in breadth. A modern Esquimaux
scraper is represented in figs. 76-78. These modern speci-
mens are in form identical with the old ones.
72
THE SMALL AXES
To the small, triangular “axes,” (figs. 79-81) which are
very characteristic of the Kjbkkenmoddings, as well as of the
Coastfinds, I have applied the name by which they are usually
known, but without wishing to prejudge the question as to
their purpose. They are flat on one 'side, and more or less
convex on the other; rudely triangular or quadrangular in
Fig. 79. Fig. 80. Fig. 8L
Danish Axe.
shape, with the cutting edge at the broader end ; and from
2|in. to 5|in. in length, with a breadth of l|in. to 2|in.
They are never ground, and the cutting edge, though not
sharp, is very strong, as it is formed by a plane, meeting
the flat side at a very obtuse angle. Professor Steenstrup
doubts whether these curious and peculiar implements were
ever intended for axes, and regards them as having been,
in all probability, mere weights for fishing lines, in support
of which view he figures some not, perhaps, very dissimilar
stone objects, used for that purpose by the Esquimaux.
The so-called edge, in his opinion, neither has, nor could
OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS.
73
have, been used for cutting, but is merely the result of that
form, which was found by the fishermen to be most con-
venient. hie also calls attention to the polished facets on
their surfaces, which he regards as affording strong support
to his opinion.
It must be at once admitted, that there are many of these
Fig. 82. Fio. 83. Fig. 84.
New Zealand Adze.
“axes” which can never have been used for cutting, but
these may be regarded as failures, and are certainly not to
be taken as normal specimens. It is true that the two
surfaces, constituting the edge, form a very obtuse angle with
one another, but we must remember that if this detracts from
the sharpness, it adds greatly to the strength. Moreover, the
angle is almost exactly the same as that which we find in
the adzes of the New Zealanders, and other South Sea
Islanders. Figs. 82-84, represent a recent adze, brought
by the Rev. R. Taylor from New Zealand, and now in the
British Museum, which very closely resembles the typical
74
CHISELS.
axes of the Kjdkkenmdddings. The edge, indeed, is polished,
but is after all not smoother than the natural fracture of the
flint. The projection on the underside of the Danish speci-
men (fig. 81<i.) is accidental, and due to some peculiarity in
the flint. This surface is usually as flat in the Danish speci-
mens, as in the New Zealand.
The chisels (pi. 1, fig. 5) resemble the Danish axes, in
having perpendicular sides, hut they are
narrower, and are almost always ground
to a smooth surface. Many of them
are slightly hollowed on one side, as
in fig. 85.
There is a curious flat, semi-circular,
flint instrument (pi. 1, fig. 3), common
in Denmark, but very rarely, if ever,
found in Great Britain. The convex
edge was evidently fastened into a
handle of wood, the marks of which
arc still in many cases plainly visible.
The other edge, which is either straight
or concave, is generally provided with
a number of teeth, giving it more or less
resemblance to a saw. In some cases,
it is so much worn away by use, that
the implement takes the form of a new
moon or a boomerang. The edge is in
many cases quite polished, evidently by continuous friction
against a soft substance. I say a soft substance, because
the polished part overlaps on both sides, and passes in
between the teeth of the saw, which would not have been
otherwise the case. It is probable that the semi-lunar
instruments were fixed in wooden handles, and then used
in cleaning skins. Similarly shaped instruments are even
now used as knives by the Esquimaux women, under the
Fig. 85.
Hollow Chisel.
SPEAR-HEADS. DAGGERS.
75
name of Ooloos. It might be convenient to apply this
term to the ancient Danish specimens.
The so-called “awls” are rude pieces of flint, or flakes
worked up at one place by a number of small chips to a
point (fig. 125). Though not very sharp, they are pretty
strong.
Fig. 86.
The spear-lieads (fig. 86) are very vari-
able in size and form ; some of them are
scarcely distinguishable from
large arrow-heads ; others are
much larger. Some are so
rude that it is questionable ■ ^
whether they were finished,
while others are marvellous
specimens of ancient art. One
in my possession is 12in. in
length, l|in. in breadth, and
of wonderfully beautiful work-
manship. It is one of six, 1
found together inside a large .
tumulus in the island of / Jj
Moon.
The daggers (pi. 1, fig. 4,
and fig. 87) are also marvels
of skill in flint - chipping.
Their form so closely resem-
bles that of metallic daggers,
that some antiquaries are in-
clined to regard them as
copies of bronze daggers, and
therefore as not belonging to
the Stone age. The localities
in which they have been found
do not, however, offer any support to
in I
Spearhead.
Fig. 87.
Dagger.
this hypothesis.
76
SLINGSTONES.
Another form of flint weapon (fig. 88), which is common
in Denmark, has a handle like that of the last form, but
instead of a blade, it ends in a point, and suggests the
idea, that if the tip of a dagger had been accidentally broken
off, the rest of the weapon might have been worked up into
fio. 88. one of these poniards, and thus utilized. In
both these classes, the crimping along the
edges of the handle is very curious.
The slingstones are of two kinds. The
first are merely rough pieces of flint, (pi.
1, fig. 12), reduced by a few blows of a
hammer to a convenient size and form.
But for the situations in which they are
found, these might almost be regarded as
natural fragments. Professor Steenstrup is
now disposed to think that many of them
were used as sinkstones for nets, but that
some have really served as slingstones seems
to be indicated by their presence in the Peat-
mosses, which it is difficult to account for in
any other way. The other kind of sling-
stones are round flattish flint disks, some
of which are beautifully made.
The oval iool-stones (fig. 89), or “Tilhug-
gersteens” of the northern antiquaries, are
oval or egg-shaped stones,
more or less indented on one
or both surfaces. Their use
is not at present thoroughly
understood. Some antiqua-
ries suppose that they were held between
Dagger (broken at A A J
the point). the finger and thumb, and used as hammers
or chippers. If, however, a large series is obtained, it will
be found that the depression varies greatly in depth, and
Fig. 89.
Oval Toolstone.
ARROW-HEADS.
77
that sometimes the stone is completely perforated, which
favors the views of those who regard these implements as
ringstones for nets, or small hammer heads.
Other stones, in which the longer axis is encircled by a
groove, appear to have been evidently intended as sinkstones
for nets.
The arrow-heads are divided by Sir W. R. Wilde into five
varieties. Firstly, the triangular (fig. 90), which frequently
had a notch on each side to receive the string
which attached it to the shaft ; secondly, that
which is hollowed out or indented at the base,
Arrow-heads.
Fro. 92.
Fro. 90.
Fio. 91.
as in fig. 91 ; thirdly, the stemmed arrow, which has a tang
or projection for sinking into the shaft ; fourthly, when the
wings are prolonged on each side, this passes into the barbed
arrow (fig. 92) ; finally, we have the leaf-sliaped form, a
beautiful example of which is represented in fig. 93. The
true arrow-heads are generally about an inch in length, but
they pass gradually into the javelin, and from that into the
spear-head. There are various other kinds of flint imple-
ments, such as hammers, saws, harpoons, etc., but — omitting
for the present the drift types — these are the principal
forms.
Some of the old Spanish writers on Mexico give us a
78 MANUFACTURE OF FLINT IMPLEMENTS.
description of the manner in which the Aztecs obtained
their obsidian flakes. Torquemada,* who is confirmed by
Hernandez, tells us — I quote from Mr. Tylor’s Anahuac —
“ They had, and still have, workmen who make knives of
a certain black stone or flint (obsidian), which it is a most
wonderful and admirable thing to see them make out of
the stone ; and the ingenuity which invented this art is
much to be praised. They are made and got out of the
stone (if one can explain it) in this manner. One of these
Indian workmen sits down upon the ground, and takes a
piece of this black stone, which is like jet, and as hard as
flint ; and is a stone which might be called precious, more
beautiful and brilliant than alabaster or jasper, so much so
that of it are made tablets and mirrors. The piece they take
is about eight inches long or rather more, and as thick as
one’s leg or rather less, and cylindrical ; they have a stick as
large as the shaft of a lance, and three cubits or rather more
in length, and at the end of it they fasten firmly another
piece of wood, eight inches long, to give more weight to this
part ; then, pressing their naked feet together, they hold the
stone as with a pair of pincers, or the vice of a carpenter’s
bench. They take the stick (which is cut off smooth at the
end) with both hands, and set it well home against the edge
of the front of the stone ( y ponenlo avesar con el canto cle la
/rente de la piedra), which also is cut smooth in that part ;
and then they press it against their breast, and with the
force of the pressure there flies off a knife, with its point and
edge on each side, as neatly as if one were to make them of
a turnip with a sharp knife, or of iron in the fire. Then
they sharpen it on a stone, using a hone to give it a very fine
edge ; and in a very short time these workmen will make
more than twenty knives in the aforesaid manner. They
* Torquemada. Monarquia Indiana. Seville, 1615,
BONE IMPLEMENTS.
79
come out of the same shape as our barbers’ lancets, except
that they have a rib up the middle and have a slight graceful
curve towards the point.”
Thus it appears that the obsidian flakes were made, not by
blows, but by strong pressure ; and the same is the case with
the chert implements of the Esquimaux, according to the
description given by Sir E. Belcher.* “ Selecting,” he says,
“ a log of wood, in which a spoon-shaped cavity was cut, they
placed the splinter to be worked over it, and by pressing
gently along the margin vertically, first on one side, then the
other, as one would set a saw, they splintered off alternate
fragments, until the object, thus properly outlined, presented
the spear or arrow-head form, with two cutting serrated
sides.” A very similar account is also given by Lieutenant
Beckwith of the method used by the North American Indians. f
Besides being employed for handling the stone axes, the
bones and horns of animals were much used as the ma-
terial of various simple implements, and those of the stag
Fig. 94.
Bone Awl— Scotland.
appear to have been preferred as being the hardest. The
commonest bone implement is the pin or awl (fig. 94) : not
much less numerous are certain oblong chisel-like imple-
ments (fig. 122), the use of which it is not easy to determine.
Ribs split open, and pointed at one end, are sometimes
found, and have been supposed by some archaeologists to have
served as netting rides ; while by others they are considered
to have been used in the manufacture of pottery. Bone
* Trans, of the Ethnological Soc. New Ser. Yol. i., p. 138.
f Report of Explorations an 1 Surveys of the Pacific Railroad, 1855. Yol. ii.,
80
DANISH COASTFINDS.
twi
harpoons, arrow-heads, and spear-heads, also occur ; and
fiq. 95. pierced teeth seem to have been not unfrequently
worn as amulets.
Stone implements of the forms above described
are frequently found on the surface of the ground,
or are dug up in agricultural or other operations.
But those found singly in this manner have com-
paratively little scientific value; it is only when
found in considerable numbers, and especially when
associated with other remains, that they serve to
throw much light on the manners and customs of
ancient times. As already mentioned, the tumuli,
the Lake -habitations, and the shell - mounds, are
specially valuable in this respect, but I must also
say a few words about the “Coastfinds” of the
Danish antiquaries. “Coastfinds” are discoveries
of rude flint implements, which are found lying
in large numbers on certain spots along the old
line of coast. These discoveries have received
from the Danish antiquaries the name of “ Ivyst-
funden,” or, as we may translate it, “ Coastfinds.”
Owing, probably, to the elevation of the land
which has taken place in Jutland since the Stone
age, some of them are now on dry ground, and as
the shore is very flat, the elevation, slight as it is,
has in some cases been sufficient to separate them
by a considerable distance from the present water-
line. Some, on the other hand, are at lower levels ;
one, for instance, close to the Railway station at
Korsoer, is exposed only at low tide, and others
are always covered. The “Coastfinds,” however,
belong probably to different classes. Thus, one at
Anholt was evidently a workshop of flint imple-
ments, as is shown by the character of the chips, and by the
Ancient
Bone
Harpoon —
Denmark.
FL1NTFINDS.
81
discovery of more than sixty flint cores. Those, on the con-
trary, which even at the present day are under water, must
have been so in old times, and as there are no traces of Lake-
habitations in Denmark, it seems the most natural suppo-
sition that they were the places where the fishermen used to
drag their nets. It is still usual to choose particular spots *
for this purpose, and it is evident that many of the rude
objects used in fishing, especially of the stones employed
as net-weights, would there he lost. The objects discovered
are just what might have been expected under these cir-
cumstances. They consist of irregular flint chippings, net-
weights or slingstones, flakes, scrapers, awls, and axes.
These six different classes of objects have been found in
most, if not all of the coastfinds, though in different pro-
portions. To give an idea of the numbers in which they
occur, I may mention that Professor Steenstrup and I
gathered in about an hour at Froelimd, near Korsor, 141
flakes, 84 weights, 5 axes, 1 scraper, and about 150 flint
chips ; while at a similar spot, near Aarhuus in Jutland,
I myself picked up, in two hours and a half, 76 weights, 40
flakes, 39 scrapers, 17 awls, and a considerable number
of flint chips.
In the sheltered and shallow fjords of Denmark, the sea
is generally calm, and, in many instances, a layer of sand
has accumulated over and thus protected the flint fragments.
This was the case with both the above-mentioned coastfinds,
one of which was exposed in draining the land, the other in
a railway cutting. Sometimes a change of currents will re-
move the light sand, and leave the heavier stones, which
again in other cases have lain apparently undisturbed and
exposed from the first ; and in such instances, the spots are
so thickly strewn with white flints that they may often be
distinguished by their color, even at a considerable distance.
Of course, in a sea like that which surrounds our coast,
G
82
FLINTFINDS.
such remains would soon be reduced to mere gravel ; besides
which, we must remember that on our Southern or Eastern
shores, even in historical times, the sea has encroached
greatly. “Flintfinds,” however, resembling in many re-
spects these Danish “ coastfinds,” are not altogether unknown
in this country. A great number of flint flakes, with a few
arrows and cores, were found some years ago by Mr. Shelley
in a field near Reigate, but, so far as I am aware, no other
forms have yet been observed at this place.
In the Aberdeen Journal (October, 18G3), Mr, T. F,
Jamieson mentions a spot on the banks of the Ythan below
Ellon, where in a few minutes he filled his “pockets with
flint flakes, abortive arrow-heads, flint blocks from which the
flakes have been struck off, and other such nondescript
articles of ancient cutlery.” There are other places, as, for
instance, Bridlington, Pont le Yoy, Spiennes, near Mons,
Pressigny le Grand, etc., where immense numbers of rudo
hatchets, cores, flakes, spear-heads, etc., have been found.
Now that our attention has been called to these flintfinds,
no doubt many similar discoveries will be made elsewhere.
ya
CHAPTER IV.
TUMULI.
4 LL over Europe ; we might indeed say, all over the
Ij. world, wherever they have not been destroyed by the
plough or the hammer ; we find relics of pre-historic times —
camps, fortifications, dykes, temples, tumuli, etc. ; many of
which astonish us by their magnitude, while all of them
excite our interest by the antiquity of which they remind
us, and the mystery with which they are surrounded. Some
Fio. 96.
Danish Tumulus.
few, indeed, there are, such, for instance, as the Roman Wall
in England, the Dannevirke, and Queen Thyra’s tumulus, in
Denmark, of which the date and origin are known to us, but
84
PRE-HIST0R1C
by far the greater number, such as the Wansdyke, the
Rio. 97.
Plan of the preceding.
“ temple” of Carnac in Brittany, the tumuli supposed to be
those of Thor, Odin, and Freya at Upsala,* and the great
Fig. 98.
Sepulchral Stone Circle.
tumuli near Drogheda, are entirely pre-historic. Some of
* See Frontispiece.
TUMULI
85
them, doubtless, belong to tbe metallic period, some to that
of Stone, but it very rarely happens that we can attribute
any of them with reasonable probability to one period rather
than to another. This is particularly the case with ancient
Fio. 99.
Danish Cromlech.
earthworks and mcgalithic temples or circles; the barrows,
or Lows, on the other hand, frequently contain objects
from which some idea of relative antiquity may be ob-
tained. These ancient burial-mounds, of which several
Fio. 100.
Sepulchral Stone Circle.
typical examples are represented in figs. 96 to 100, are
extremely numerous. In our own island they may be
seen on almost every down ; in the Orkneys alone it is
80
TUMULI MENTIONED
estimated that more than two thousand still remain ; and in
Denmark they are even more abundant ; they are found
all over Europe, from the shores of the Atlantic to the
Oural mountains ; in Asia they are scattered over the great
steppes, from the borders of Russia to the Pacific Ocean,
and from the plains of Siberia to those of Hindostan ; in
America we are told that they are to be numbered by thou-
sands and tens of thousands ; nor are they wanting in Africa,
where the Pyramids themselves exhibit the most magnificent
development of the same idea ; so that the whole world is
studded with these burial places of the dead. The Crom-
lechs, Dolmens, and Cistvaens (fig. 99), are now generally
regarded as sepulchral, and the great number in which these
ancient burial places occur is very suggestive of their an-
tiquity, since the labor involved in the construction of
a tumulus would not be undertaken except in honor of chiefs
and great men. Many of them are small, but some are
very large ; Silbury Hill, the highest in Great Britain,
has a height of one hundred and seventy feet ; but though
evidently artificial, there is great doubt whether it is
sepulchral.
Mr. Bateman, in the Preface to his second work,* has
collected together the most ancient allusions to burial cere-
monies, and we see that “ Mound-burial ” was prevalent in
the earliest times of which we have any historical record.
Achan and his whole family were stoned with stones and
burned with fire, after which we are told that Israel “ raised
over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord
turned from the fierceness of his anger.” Again, the king
of Ai was buried under a great heap of stones.
According to Diodorus, Semiramis, the widow of Ninus,
buried her husband within the precincts of the palace, and
raised over him a great mound of earth. Some of the
• Ten Years’ Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills.
IN ANCIENT HISTORY.
87
tumuli in Greece were old even in the time of Homer, and
were considered by him to be the burial places of the heroes.
Pausanias mentions that stones were collected together, and
heaped up over the tomb of Laius, the father of (Edipus.
In the time of the Trojan war, Tydeus and Lycus are men-
tioned as having been buried under two earthen barrows.
“ Hector’s barrow was of stones and earth. Achilles erected
a tumulus upwards of an hundred feet in diameter, over the
remains of his friend Patroclus. The mound supposed by
Xenophon to contain the remains of Alyattes, father of
Croesus, king of Lydia, was of stone and earth, and more
than a quarter of a league in circumference. In later times,
Alexander the Great caused a tumulus to be heaped over his
friend Hephaestionr at the cost of 1200 talents, no mean sum,
even for a conqueror like Alexander, it being £232,500 ster-
ling.”* Virgil tells us- that Dbrcennus, king of Latium,
was buried under an earthen mound ; and, according to the
earliest historians, whose statements are confirmed by the
researches of archaeologists, mound-burial was practised in
ancient times by the Scythians,. Greeks, Etruscans, Ger-
mans,. and many other nations. The size of the tumulus
may be taken as a rude indication of the estimation in
which the deceased was held; the Scotch Highlanders f
have still a complimentary proverb, “Curri mi clach er do
cuirn,” i.e. I will add a stone to your cairn.
What Schoolcraft says of the North American Indians is
applicable to many savage tribes. "Nothing that the dead
possessed was deemed too valuable to be interred with the
body. The most costly dress, arms, ornaments, and imple-
ments, are deposited in the grave which is “ always placed
in the choicest scenic situations — on some crowning hill or
o-entle eminence in a secluded valley.” And the North
&
* Ten Years’ Diggings in the Celtic and Saxon Gravehills, p. v.
t Wilson, Pre-historic Annals of Scotland, vol. i., p. 86, second edition.
88 RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN THE CHAMBERED TUMULI
American Indians are said, even until within the last few
years, to have cherished a friendly feeling for the French,
because, in the time of their supremacy, they had at least
this one great merit, that they never disturbed the resting-
places of the dead.
Some of the oldest tumuli of Scandinavia are large mounds,
containing a passage, formed by great blocks of stone, almost
always opening towards the south or east, — never to the
north, — and leading into a great central chamber, round
Avhich the dead sit. At Goldhavn, for instance, in the year
1830, a grave (if so it can be called) of this kind was opened,
and numerous skeletons were found, sitting on a low seat
round the walls, each with his weapons and ornaments by
his side. How, the dwellings used by Arctic nations — the
“winter-houses” of the Esquimaux and Greenlanders, the
“ Yurts ” of the Siberians — correspond closely with these
“ Ganggraben ” or “ Passage graves.” The Siberian Yurt,
for instance, as described by Erman, consists of a central
chamber, sunk a little in the ground, and, in the absence
of great stones, formed of timber, while earth is heaped up
on the roof and against the sides, reducing it to the form of
a mound. The opening is on the south, and a small hole
for a window is sometimes left on the east side. Instead of
glass, a plate of ice is used ; it is at first a foot thick, and
four or five generally last through the winter. ' The fireplace
is opposite the entrance ; and round the sides of the room,
against the Avails, “the floor is raised for a width of about
six feet, and on this elevated part, the inmates slept at night,
and sat at Avork by day.”
Captain Cook gives a very similar description of the
winter habitations used by the Tschutski, in the extreme
north-east of Asia. They are, he says,* “exactly like a
vault, the floor of which is sunk a little below the surface of
* \oyage to the Pacific Ocean, vol. ii., p. 450. See also vol. iii., p. 374,
AND THE DWELLINGS OF SOME ARCTIC NATIONS.
89
the earth. One of them, which I examined, was of an oval
form, about twenty feet long, and twelve or more high.
The framing was composed of wood, and the ribs of whales,
disposed in a judicious manner, and hoimd together with
smaller materials of the same sort. Over this framing is
laid a covering of strong coarse grass ; and that, again, is
covered with earth : so that, on the outside, the house looks
like a little hillock, supported by a wall of stone, three or
four feet high, which is built round the two sides, and one
end.”
These dwellings appear, then, to agree very closehr with
the “ Ganggraben indeed, it is possible that in some cases
ruined dwellings of this kind have been mistaken for sepul-
chral tumuli ; * for some mounds have been examined which
contained broken implements, pottery, ashes, etc., but no
human hones; in short, numerous indications of life, but no
trace of death. We know, also, that several savage tribes
have a superstitious reluctance to use anything which has
belonged to a dead person ; in some cases this applies to his
house, which is either deserted or used as a grave. The
Indians of the Amazons bury their dead under their houses,
which, however, are not therefore abandoned by the living.
Under these circumstances, there seems much proba-
bility in the view advocated by Professor Nilsson, the
venerable archaeologist of Sweden, that these “ Ganggra-
ben ” are a copy, a development, or an adaptation, of the
dwelling-house ; that the ancient inhabitants of Scandi-
navia, unable to imagine a future altogether different from
the present, or a world quite unlike our own, showed their
respect and affection for the dead, by burying with them
those things which in life they had valued most ; with ladies
their ornaments, with warriors their weapons. They buried
the house with its owner, and the grave was literally the
* The so-called “ Pond-barrows ” perhaps belong to this class.
90
CHAMBERED
dwelling of the dead. When a great man died, he was
placed on his favorite seat, food and drink were arranged
before him, his weapons were placed by his side, his house
was closed, and the door covered up ; sometimes, however, to
he opened again when his wife or children joined him in the
land of spirits.
Many skulls have been obtained in Scandinavia, from
tumuli of this character ; they are round, with heavy, over-
hanging brows, and go far to justify the opinion entertained
by some archaeologists, that the pre-Celtic inhabitants of
Scandinavia, and, perhaps, of Europe generally, were of Tu-
ranian origin, akin to the modern Laplanders. The “ cham-
bered ” tumuli of Great Britain resemble, in many respects,
the Scandinavian “ Ganggraben,” and, like them, are con-
sidered by some archaeologists as the earliest in time ; but
instead of the round, heavy-browed skulls found in the mega-
litliic Scandinavian tumuli, the occupants of the “chambered”
mounds in England (so far, at least, as we can judge from the
somewhat scanty evidence which we possess), are charac-
terised by very long and narrow skulls, which have received
from Dr. Wilson the name of “ K umbecephalic, ’ ’ or boat-
shaped skulls. Moreover (apart from the a priori improba-
bility of these great megalithic tumuli being in all cases
earlier than the smaller and simpler mounds), we must re-
member that in the great burial mound of New Grange, in
Ireland, the stones are decorated with figures very charac-
teristic of the Bronze age, and evidently engraved before the
stones were placed in their present position, as they are, in
some cases, overlapped by the neighbouring slabs. Those
who wish to see the present state of the question as to
these chambered tumuli, and the Kumbecephalic skulls, will
find it well stated by Dr. Wilson in the Pre-historic Annals
of Scotland ; * but I agree with the able authors of the
* Second ed., vol. i. p. 249
TUMULI.
91
Crania Britannica, in thinking that the evidence which he
adduces is far from conclusive.*
It is just possible that the comparative rarity of chambered
tumuli in Western Europe may be connected with the
greater mildness of the climate, which did not necessitate
the use of underground “ winter-houses ; ” or it may be an
indication of a difference in race. Farther investigations
will, doubtless, decide this point. In the meantime, we
must remember that the so-called “Piets’ Houses” are
abundant in the northern parts of Great Britain. These
curious dwellings are “ scarcely distinguishable from the
larger tumuli ; but, on digging into the green mound,
it is found to cover a series of large chambers, built
generally with stones of considerable size, and converging
towards the centre, where an opening appears to have been
left for light and ventilation. These differ little from many
of the subterranean weems, excepting that they are erected
on the natural surface of the soil, and have been buried by
means of an artificial mound heaped over them.”f
According to Mr. Bateman, who has recorded the sys-
tematic opening of more than four hundred tumuli, (a very
large proportion of which were investigated in his presence),
and whose opinion is, therefore, of great value, “ the funda-
mental design of them ( i.e ., the British tumuli), with the
exception of the very few chambered or galleried mounds
in Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Ireland, etc., as New Grange,
Way land Smith’s Cave, Uleybury and others, and those of
the incalculably later Saxon period, is pretty much the same
in most places ; the leading feature of these sepulchral
mounds is, that they enclose either an artless stone vault, or
chamber, or a stone chest, otherwise called a Kistvaen, built
with more or less care ; and, in other cases, a grave cut out
more or less below the natural surface, and lined, if need be,
* Crania Britannica, l.c. Part 2, 5. f Wilson, l.c. vol. i., p. 116.
92
OBJECTS BURIED WITH THE DEAD
with stone slabs, in which the body was placed in a perfect
state, or reduced to ashes by fire.”*
The care with which the dead were interred, and the
objects buried with them, have been regarded as proving the
existence of a belief in the immortality of the soul, and in a
material existence after death.
“That the ancient Briton,” says Dr. Wilson, f“ lived in
the belief of a future state, and of some doctrine of proba-
tion and of final retribution, is apparent from the constant
deposition beside the dead, not only of weapons, implements
and personal ornaments, but also of vessels which may be pre-
sumed to have contained food and drink. That his ideas of
a future state were rude and degraded, is abundantly mani-
fest from the same evidence.”
But it is very far from being “ constantly ” the case, that
the dead were so well supplied with what we call the neces-
saries of life ; indeed, it is quite the exception, and not the
rule. Thus, out of more than 250 interments described by Sir
R. Colt Iloare in the first volume of his great work on Ancient
Wiltshire, only 18 had any implements of stone, only 31 of
bone, 67 of bronze, and 11 of iron ; and while pottery was
present in 107, more than 60 of these contained only sepul-
chral urns, intended to receive the ashes of the dead, and
certainly never meant to hold food. So far, however, as
stone implements are concerned, I must confess that Sir R,
C. Hoare appears to have overlooked the ruder instruments
and weapons. I will, therefore, rely principally on the
evidence of Mr. Bateman, one of the most experienced and
careful of barrow-openers.
Although a large number of the interments described by
him had been already examined, there were 297 which had
not been previously disturbed, and though he carefully men-
tions even the rudest bit of chipped flint, there are no less
* Bateman, Ten Years’ Diggings, p. xi. f l.c. vol. i., p. 498.
NOT ALWAYS INTENDED FOR ACTUAL USE.
93
than 100 cases without any implement at all, either of stone
or metal, and the drinking- vessels and food- vases were only
about 40 in number. Moreover, lest it should be supposed
that these ill-provided interments were those of poor persons
or enemies, we will leave all these out of consideration. This
we can easily do. We may be sure that these tumuli, which
must have required much labor, were only raised in honor of
the rich and great ; though they may have served, and, no
doubt, often did serve, afterwards, as burial places for the
poor. But it is almost always easy to distinguish the primary
interment ; for though there are some few cases in which the
original occupant has been ignominiously ejected from his
grave to make room for a successor, these instances are rare,
and can generally be detected, while the secondary interments
are usually situated either above the first, or on the sides of
the tumulus. The same feeling which made our ancestors
prefer to bury their dead in a pre-existing tumulus, generally
prevented them from desecrating the earlier interments.
In the following tables, then, I have recorded the primary
interments only ; the first column contains the name of
the tumulus, the succeeding nine indicate the disposition
of the corpse, and the articles found therewith, while the
last is reserved for any special remarks. Out of 139 inter-
ments, only 105 had any implements or weapons, and only
35 were accompanied by any pottery that can have held
either food or drink. Moreover, if we examine the nature
of the implements which were deposited with the dead, we
shall find that they are far from representing complete sets
of tools or ornaments. The rarity of bronze in tombs is
perhaps not surprising ; but to men so practised as our
predecessors, it must have been an easy matter to make a
rude arrow-head, or a flint flake. Yet some of the corpses
are accompanied by but one single arrow-head, others by a
small flint flake ; some, again, by a single scraper.
94
TABULATED
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TEN YEANS’ DIGGINGS.
INTERMENTS.
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INTERMENTS.
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98
MODELS OF IMPLEMENTS SOMETIMES BUKIED.
Thus, then, there seems to have been no intention of de-
positing- with each corpse a complete set of implements.
The harrow on Cronkstone Hill, for instance, contained the
skeleton of a man, with whom had been buried the burnt bones
of some one, probably a slave, or perhaps a wife, who had been
sacrificed at his grave, and yet the only implement found
with him was a “circular instrument,” probably a flint
scraper, or a slingstone. Again, the mound known as “ Cow
Low” contained only a bone pin. The affectionate relatives
who heaped up this tumulus would certainly not have sent
their dead sister into the new world with nothing but a bone
pin, if they had thought that the things they buried with
her could be of any use. Even the great tumulus at Arbor
Low contained only a bone pin, a piece of iron pyrites, a
kidney shaped instrument of flint, and two vases. It would
be easy to multiply illustrations, and it is, I think, suffi-
ciently evident that the articles found in the graves cannot
seriously be considered as affording any evidence of a definite
belief in a future state of existence, or as having been in-
tended for the use of the dead in the new world to which
they were going. Moreover, there is a well-marked spe-
ciality in each case, which seems to show that these rude
implements, far from being the result of a national belief,
are simply the touching evidences of individual affection.
In some few cases, again, small models of weapons have
been found, in lieu of the weapons themselves. In modern
Esquimaux graves small models of kajaks, spears, etc., are
sometimes buried, and a similar fact has been observed in
Egyptian tombs. Mr. Franks informs me that much of
the jewellery found in Etruscan tombs is so thin that it
can scarcely have been intended for wear during life.
We must always bear in mind that the ancient tumuli
do not all belong to one period, nor to one race of men.
Excepting, perhaps, the Aurignac Cave (which will be
BARROWS OF DIFFERENT PERIODS.
99
described in a subsequent chapter), there is, indeed, no known
interment which can be referred, with any reasonable pro-
bability, to the Palaeolithic age. Still it was the examination
of the tumuli which first induced Sir It. Colt Iloare, and
other archaeologists, to adopt for Northern Europe the
division into three great periods, already indicated by
ancient writers. In Denmark, especially, there was sup-
posed to be so sharp and well-marked a distinction between
the tumuli of the Stone age and those of the Bronze
period, that the use of bronze might be considered as
having been introduced by a new race of men, who rapidly
exterminated the previous inhabitants, had entirely dif-
ferent burial customs, and were altogether in a much
higher state of civilisation. It was stated that the tumuli
of the Stone age were generally surrounded by a circle
of great stones, and contained chambers formed of enor-
mous blocks of stone, and that the dead were buried
in a contracted or sitting posture, with the knees brought
up under the chin, and the arms folded across the breast.
On the contrary, the burial places of the Bronze age
were described as having “no circles of massive stones,
no stone chambers ; in general, no large stones on the
bottom, with the exception of stone cists placed together,
which, however, are easily to be distinguished from the
stone chambers ; they consist, as a general ride, of mere
earth, with heaps of small stones, and always present them-
selves to the eye as mounds of earth, which, in a few rare
instances, are surrounded by a small circle of stones, and
contain relics of bodies which have been burned, and placed
in vessels of clay with objects of metal.”*
Thus, therefore, the barrows of the age of Bronze appeared
to be distinguished from those of the earlier period, not only
by the important fact, that, “ instead of the simple and uni-
* Worsaae’s Primeval Antiquities, p. 93.
100
DIFFICULTY OF DETERMINING THE PERIOD
form implements, and ornaments of stone, bone, and amber,
we meet, suddenly, with a number and variety of splendid
weapons, implements, and jewels of bronze, and sometimes,
indeed, with jewels of gold;”* but also because the con-
struction of the tumuli themselves was different in the two
periods ; and the corpse, which, in the Stone age, was always
buried in a contracted posture, was in the Bronze age always
burnt. Subsequent investigations, however, have furnished
the Danish antiquaries rather with exceptions to, than con-
firmations of, this generalisation ; and, on the whole, it
must be admitted that we arc not acquainted with any ex-
ternal differences by which the tumuli of the Stone, Bronze,
and Iron ages can with certainty be distinguished from one
another. The contents of the graves are, however, more in-
structive. Eventually, no doubt, the human remains them-
selves, and especially the skulls, will prove our best guides; but
at present we do not possess a sufficient number of trustworthy
descriptions or measurements, to justify us in drawing any
generalisation from them, excepting, perhaps, this, that the
skulls found with bronze in some cases closely resemble those
discovered in graves containing only stone implements; from
which we may infer that, even if the use of bronze was intro-
duced by a new and more civilised race, the ancient inhabitants
were probably not altogether exterminated. The pottery does
not at present help us much ; that found in company with
bronze is coarse, ill-burnt, hand-made, and, in form, ornamen-
tation, and material, closely agrees with that which occurs in
graves containing stone implements only. We too often see
that tumuli are referred to the Stone age because they contain
one or two implements made of that material. This, how-
ever, is a very unsafe deduction. We know that stone was
extensively used throughout the Bronze age ; and, indeed,
out of 37 tumuli in which Mr. Bateman found objects of
* Worsaae’s Primeval Antiquities, p. 24.
TO WHICH A TUMULUS BELONGS.
101
bronze, no less than 29 contained also stone implements,
many of which were extremely rude. Evidently, therefore,
the mere presence of one or two objects of stone is in itself
no sufficient reason for referring any given interment to the
Stone age. The following tabular statement of 297 inter-
ments recorded by Mr. Bateman will, however, I think, be
found interesting : —
IMPLEMENTS.
CORPSE.
TOTAL.
CONTRACTED.
BURNT.
EXTENDED.
POSITION
UNCERTAIN.
None . .
27
63
3
7
100
Stone . .
53
48
2
31
134
Bronze
15
10
5
7
37
Iron . .
2
3
14
7
26
Total .
97
124
24
52
297
These interments are all from the counties of Derby, Staf-
ford, and York. In his work on Ancient Wiltshire, Sir R.
C. Iloare records the examination of 267 interments, which
may be tabulated in a similar manner as follows : —
IMPLEMENTS.
CORPSE.
TOTAL.
CONTRACTED.
BURNT.
EXTENDED.
POSITION
UNCERTAIN.
None . .
9
160
3
12
184
Stone . .
2
5
1
1
9
Bronze
4
49
2
8
63
Iron . .
—
—
7
4
11
Total .
15
214
13
25
267
We see that in this latter table nearly all the cases of
bronze were in interments preceded by cremation, but in
102
STATISTICS.
the northern interments the reverse is the case ; and, as
regards Wiltshire, if we are to regard cremation as a test of
the Bronze age, we must refer . almost the whole of these
interments to that period. I confess that I am somewhat
inclined to do so. No less than 270 tumuli cluster round
Stonehenge, and it seems most probable that the dead were
brought from a distance, to lie near the great temple. In
this case, the great majority of the tumuli belong, therefore,
to one period, that, namely, at which the temple was held1
sacred. Some few, indeed, may be referable to earlier or
later times, but as out of 152 of these interments, which were
examined by Sir R. C. Hoare, no less than 39 contained
objects of bronze, I am disposed to regard the whole group
as belonging to the Bronze period. Now in these 152 cases
the corpse was contracted in 4 only, and extended in 3. In
16 the disposition of the corpse was not ascertained, and in
no less than 129 it had been burnt.
If we combine the observations of Sir R. C. Hoare and
Mr. Bateman, we shall obtain the following table : —
IMPLEMENTS.
CORPSE.
TOTAL.
CONTRACTED.
BURNT.
EXTENDED.
POSITION
UNCERTAIN.
None .
36
223
6
19
284
Stone .
55
53
3
32
143
Bronze
19
59
7
15
100
Iron . .
2
3
21
11
37
Total .
112
338
37
77
564
Thus, out of 37 graves containing iron weapons or imple-
ments, the corpse was certainly extended in 21 cases, and
probably so in several others ; while out of no less than
527 cases in which iron was not present, the corpse was
extended only in 16, the proportion being at least T7Tths
TREATMENT OF THE CORPSE.
103
in the one ( as?, and only -Jg-rd in the other. On the whole
we may certainly conclude that this mode of burial was
introduced at about the same period as the use of iron.
As regards the habit of burning the dead, the evidence is
less conclusive. Out of a hundred cases, indeed, of graves
characterised by the presence of bronze, the corpse appears to
have been buried in a contracted posture nineteen times only,
in an extended position only seven times. It is evident,
therefore, that during the Bronze age the dead were
generally burnt. Possibly the graves in which a contracted
skeleton was found together with objects of bronze, may
have belonged to the commencement of the period, and to
representatives of the earlier race. It is true that there
arc many cases in which interments by cremation, if I may
use such an expression, contain no weapons or objects of
bronze. We know, however, that this metal must always
have been expensive ; and it is not unreasonable to suppose
that many, if not most, of these interments may belong
to the Bronze age, although no objects of metal occurred
in them.
There can be no doubt that in the Neolithic Stone age it
was usual to bury the corpse in a sitting, or contracted
posture ; and, in short, it appears probable, although far from
being satisfactorily established, that in Western Europe this
attitude is characteristic of the Stone age, cremation of that
*of Bronze; while those cases in which the skeleton was
extended may be referred, with little hesitation,* to the age
of Iron. At the same time, it must be admitted that the
evidence is very far from conclusive ; and we must remember
that in Anglo-Saxon times the dead were burned by some
tribes, and buried by others.
Although the mere presence of a few flint flakes, or other
stone implements, is certainly no sufficient reason for referring
any given tumulus to the Stone age; the case is different
104
DESCRIPTION OF A
where a large number of objects have been found together ;
for instance, I have in my collection a group of stone imple-
ments, consisting of fourteen beautifully made axes, wedges,
chisels, spear-heads, etc., and more than sixty capital flakes,
which were all found together, in one of the large Danish
sepulchral chambers on the Island of Moen,* and have been
described by M. Boye. The tumulus had a circumference of
one hundred and forty ells, and a height of about eight ells.
It is probable that it had been surrounded by a circle of
stones, for M. Jensen, the owner, remembered that, many
years before, the northern side had been surrounded by a row
of stones standing close together. None of them, however,
at present remain. Unfortunately, M. Boye was not present
when they began to remove the tumulus ; still he thinks that
the account given to him may be relied on with safety.
M. Jensen began to dig on the east side of the Low, and
the first thing which he came to was a jar, which he un-
fortunately broke. It contained burnt bones and a bronze
pin, the head of which was ornamented with concentric
lines. Towards the S.S.E. was found a cist, about an ell long,
and formed of flat stones. In it were burnt bones, a bent
knife, and a pair of pincers two inches in length ; both these
objects were of bronze. Not far from this cist was another
urn, containing burnt bones, with several objects of bronze,
namely, a knife, four inches in length, part of a small sym-
bolical sword, and two fragments of an awl. It is evident
that these three interments belonged to the Bronze age,
and also that they were secondary, that is to say, that they
belonged to a later date than the original sepulchral chamber,
over which the tumulus had been made.
The sepulchral chamber itself (fig. 101), lay north and
south, was of an oval form, about eight and a half ells in
* Annaler for Nor disk Oldkyndiglied og Histone, 1858, p. 202.
DANISH TUMULUS.
105
length, and twenty and a half in circumference, and about
two and a half in height. The walls consisted of twelve very
large, unhewn stones, which, however, did not, in most cases,
touch one another, but left intervals which were filled up by
smaller stones. The roof was formed by five great blocks,
the spaces between them being filled up by smaller ones.
The passage, which was on the east side, was five ells long
and one ell broad, and was formed by eleven side stones, and
three roof stones. At the place (a) was on each side a smaller
stone, which, in conjunction with another on the floor between
them, formed a sort of threshold, probably indicating the
Fig. 101.
N
Plan of the Chamber in a Danish Tumulus in Moen.
place where the door stood. Similar traces of a doorway have
been found in other Danish tumuli, and may, perhaps, be taken
as evidence that the mounds had been used previously as
houses : at the time of the interment, the construction of
a door would have been simply purposeless ; the passage
leading to it being filled up with rubbish. The chamber was
filled up with mould to within half an ell of the roof. About
106
DESCRIPTION OF A BARROW
the middle, not far from the bottom, a skeleton was ex-
tended (at b), with the head towards the north. On the south
side (at c and il), occurred two crania, each of which lay on a
quantity of bones, indicating that the corpses had been
buried in a sitting posture. At e was a similar skeleton,
close to which were three amber beads, a beautiful flint-
axe, which did not seem to have been ever used, a small
unfinished chisel, and some fragments of pottery, ornamented
with points and lines. At / was another skeleton in a similar
position, with a flint flake, an amber bead, and some frag-
ments of pottery. Figs. 102, 103 represent one of the skulls
from this Stone chamber. Several other skeletons were found
Fig. 102.
Fig. 103.
Skull from a Danish Tumulus at Miien.
sitting round the side walls, but they had unluckily been
removed and thrown away before the arrival of M. Boyo.
With them were at least twenty different jars or urns, all
of them inverted, and prettily decorated with points and
lines.
Besides these objects, the earth in the chamber contained five
flint spear-heads ; a fragment of a flint spear which had been
broken and worked up again ; two small flint chisels ; fifty-
three flint flakes, varying from three to five and a half inches
in length ; nineteen perfect, and thirty-one broken amber
AT WEST KENNET.
107
beads, of which the greater number were hammer-like, the
rest tubular or ring-shaped. The passage was filled up by
earth, mixed with fragments of pottery, and small stones.
About the middle was a skeleton, with the head towards the
east, at the side of which were five flakes and an amber bead.
Close to the feet was a jar, unomamented, and much ruder
than those found in the chamber itself. Not the smallest
fragment of metal was found either in the chamber or in the
passage.
Again, as a second case of the same sort, I may mention
Fig. 104.
View in the Chamber looking through the entrance.
the Long Barrow (fig. 104), near West Kennet, in Wiltshire,
108
STONE IMPLEMENTS AND POTTERY
described by Dr. Thurnam.* The tumulus in this case is
three hundred and thirty-six feet in length, forty feet wide
at the west end, and seventy-five at the east, with a height
of eight feet. The walls of the chamber are formed by six
great blocks of stone, and it opens into a passage, so that the
ground plan very closely resembles that of the tumulus just
described, and, in fact, of the “passage graves” generally.
Fio. 105. Fio. 106. Fig. 107.
Flint Implements from the Tumulus at West Rennet.
The chamber and entrance were nearly filled with chalk-
rubble, containing also bones of animals, flint implements
(figs. 105 to 108), and fragments of pottery. In the chamber
were four skeletons, two of which appear to have been buried
in a sitting posture. In different parts of the chamber were
* Archaoologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405.
FROM THE TUMULUS AT WEST KENNET.
109
found nearly three hundred flakes, three or four flint cores,
a whetstone, a scraper, part of a hone pin, a head of Kiinme-
ridge shale, and several heaps of fragments of pottery (figs.
Fig. 109. Flo. 110.
Tottery from the Tumulus at West Rennet.
109 to 114), belonging apparently to no less than fifty dif-
ferent vessels, and all made by hand, with one doubtful
exception. No trace of metal was discovered. The two
110
TUMULI OF MODERN SAVAGES.
pieces (figs. 113, 114) were found up&rt from tlie lest, und
may, perhaps, he of later origin.
Fio. 113. 114-
Pottery from the Tumulus at West Kennet.
Other similar cases might he mentioned,* in which tumuli
of large size, covering a sepulchral chamber, constructed
with great labor of huge blocks of stone, have contained
several skeletons, evidently those of persons of high rank,
and accompanied by many stone implements and fragments
of pottery, yet without a trace of metal. It appears reason-
able to conclude that these interments belong to the ante-
metallic period; especially when, as in the first-mentioned
case, we find several secondary interments, plainly belonging
to a later age, and although presenting no such indications
of high rank, still accompanied by objects of bronze.
It may seem at first sight very improbable that works so
considerable should have been undertaken and carried out by
nations entirely ignorant of metal. The burial mound of
Oberea, in Otahciti, was nevertheless two hundred and sixty-
seven feet long, eighty-seven wide, and forty-four in height.
And in treating of modern savages, I shall hereafter have
occasion to notice other instances quite as extraordinary.
The practice of burying in old tumidi, which continued
* See, for instance, Lukis, Archaeologia v. 35, p. 247.
SEPULCHRAL POTTERY.
Ill
even down to the times of Charlemagne,* has led to some
confusion, because objects of very different date are thus
liable to be described as coming from one grave ; yet, on the
other hand, it is very instructive, as there are several cases
on record, besides the one above mentioned, of interments
characterised by bronze being found above, and being,
therefore, evidently subsequent to others, accompanied by
stone only.
On the whole, however, though it is evident that the objects
most frequently buried with the dead would be those most
generally used by the living, and though the prevalence of
stone implements proves the important part played by stone
in ancient times, and goes far to justify the belief in a
Stone age ; still, the evidence to be brought forward on
this point in the following chapters will probably to many
minds seem more satisfactory ; fig. 115.
and at any rate we must ad-
mit that in the present state
of our knowledge there are
comparatively few interments
which we could with confi-
dence refer to the Neolithic
Stone age, however firmly we
may believe that a great many
of them must belong to it.
Mr. Bateman has proposed
to range the pottery found in
ancient British tumuli under
four different heads — namely,
1. Urns; 2. Incense Cups ; 3. sepulchral um.
Food Yases ; 4. Drinking Cups. The urns generally accom-
* One of his regulations ran as fol- clesite deferantur, et non ad tumulos
lows “Jubemus ut corpora Christian- paganorum.”
orum Saxonorum ad cieineteria ec-
112
SEPULCHRAL POTTERY.
pany interments by cremation, and liave either contained,
or been inverted over, burnt human bones. They are
generally of large size, “from ten to sixteen inches high,
with a deep border, more or less decorated by impressions of
twisted thongs, and incised patterns in which the chevron
or herring-bone constantly recurs in various combinations,
occasionally relieved by circular punctures, or assuming a
reticulated appearance.” They are all made by hand — no
trace of the potter’s-wheel being ever found on them. The
material of which they are formed is clay mixed with pebbles,
and some of them have been described as “sun-dried.” This
is not the case with any of those found by Mr. Bateman, who,
indeed, considers the statement to be altogether a mistake,
arising from the imperfect manner in which they were burnt.
In color they are generally brown or burnt umber outside,
and black inside.
Secondly, The “incense cups,” so called by Sir It. Colt
Iloare. They differ very much in shape, and are seldom
more than three inches high. When decorated, the patterns
are the same as those on the urns, but they are often left
plain. It is probable that they were used for lamps, as was,
I believe, first suggested by Mr. Birch.
“ The third division includes vessels of every style of orna-
Fio. 11G. Fig. 117.
Vessels from a Tumulus at Arbor Low.
ment, from the rudest to the most elaborate, but nearly alike
SEPULCHRAL TOTTERY.
113
in size, and more difficult to assign to a determinate period
than any other, from the fact of a coarse and a well-finished
one having several times been ifig. ns.
found in company.” The above
woodcuts represent two vessels
found in a harrow on the circle
at Arbor Low, in Derbyshire.
Fourthly, “The drinking-cups
(fig. 118) are generally from six
and a half to nine inches high,
of a tall shape, contracted in the
middle, globular below, and ex-
at the mouth : they are
formed by hand, of fine
clay, tempered with sharp sand,
and well baked ; the walls are
thin, averaging about three-
eighths of an inch, light brown
outside and grey within.” They are generally much orna-
mented and usually accompany well-made flint implements ;
but in some cases bronze awls have been found with them.
Mr. Bateman considers that the greater number belong to the
ante-metallic period.
Numerous as are the varieties of pottery found in ante-
Itoman tumuli, they appear (so far, at any rate, as those
discovered by Mr. Bateman are concerned) to have been all
made by hand, without any assistance from the potter’s wheel ;
they are formed of clay tempered with sand and often with
pebbles : they very rarely have handles, and spouts seem to
have been unknown ; the ornaments consist of straight lines,
dots, or marks, as if a cord had been impressed on the
soft clay ; no circular or curved lines are ever present,
nor is there the slightest attempt to copy any animal or
plant. .
8
114
BONES OF ANIMALS FOUND IN TUMULI.
The remains of mammals found with ancient human relics
have acquired greatly increased interest, since the admirable
researches of the Danish and Swiss zoologico-archacologists,
and especially of Steenstrup and Itiitimeyer, hy whose skilful
cross-examination much valuable and unexpected evidence
has been elicited, from materials of most unpromising ap-
pearance. Much, however, as we may regret, we cannot
wonder at the fact, that not only the earlier archaeologists,
but even Mr. Bateman himself, paid so little attention to the
non-human bones met with in their researches. It would be
very interesting to ascertain what animals were in a state of
domestication in Northern Europe during the Stone age :
some archaeologists, as, for instance, Professor Steenstrup,
believe the dog to have been at that period the only animal
domesticated ; others, on the contrary, consider the cow,
sheep, pig, and goat, if not the horse, to have been at that
early period domesticated in the North. This appears to
have been the case in Switzerland, as far, at any rate, as
regards the cow. In the contents of British barrows,
“ bones ” of quadrupeds have been frequently observed ;
but it is difficult to form any opinion as to whether they
belonged to wild or tame individuals.
As far, however, as the horse is concerned, we may pro-
bably assume that all the remains belong to a domesticated
race, for there is no reason to suppose that any wild horses
existed in Great Britain at a period so recent. I have
thought, therefore, that it might be of interest to point out
the class of graves in which bones or teeth of horses were
found. In Mr. Bateman’s valuable works there are, alto-
gether, twenty-eight cases ; but of these, nine were in tumuli
which had been previously opened, and in one case no body
was found. Of the remaining eighteen, five were tumuli
containing iron, and seven were accompanied with bronze.
In one more case, that of the “ Liffs,” it is doubtful whether
SEPULCHRAL FEASTS. SACRIFICES.
115
the barrow had not been disturbed. Of the remaining six
tumuli, two contained beautiful drinking vessels, of a very
well marked type, certainly in use during the Bronze age,
if not peculiar to it ; and in both these instances, as well as
in a third, the interment was accompanied with burnt human
bones, suggestive of dreadful rites. Even, however, if these
cases cannot be referred to the Bronze age, we still see that
out of the two hundred and ninety-seven interments only
sixty-three contained metal, or about twenty-one per cent.,
while out of the eighteen cases of horses’ remains twelve,
or about sixty-six per cent., certainly belonged to the me-
tallic period. This seems to be a prirna facie evidence that
the horse was very rare, if not altogether unknown, in Eng-
land during the Stone age. Both the horse and bull appear
to have been sacrificed at graves during later times, and
probably formed part of the funeral feast. The teeth of
oxen are so common in tumuli, that they are even said by
Mr. Bateman to be “ uniformly found with the more ancient
interments.”
The very frequent presence of the bones of animals in
tumuli appears to show that sepxdchral feasts were generally
held in honor of the dead, and the numerous cases in which
interments were accompanied by burnt human bones tend
to prove the prevalence of still more dreadful customs, and
that not only horses* and dogs, but slaves also, were fre-
quently sacrificed at their masters’ graves ; it is not impro-
bable that wives often were burnt with their husbands, as
in India and among many savage tribes. For instance,
among the Feegees it is usual on the death of a chief to sacri-
fice a certain number of slaves, whose bodies “are called
* grass’ for bedding” the grave, f “It is probable,” says
* Even so lately as in 1781, Frederick Casimir was laid in his grave with his
slaughtered horse. Horse ferales, p. 66.
f Manners and Customs of the Feegees, by T. "Williams, 1860, vol. i. p. 189.
116
PRE-HISTORIC
Mr. Bateman, “ that the critical examination of all deposits
of burnt bones would lead to much curious information re-
specting the statistics of suttee and infanticide, both which
abominations we are unwillingly compelled, by accumulated
evidence, to believe were practised in pagan Britain.” From
the numerous cases in which the bones of an infant and a
woman have been found together in one grave, it seems
probable that if any woman died in childbirth, or while
nursing, the baby was buried alive with her, as is still the
practice among some of the Esquimaux tribes.
I would particularly urge on those who may in future open
any barrows —
1. To record the sex of the person buried ; this is more satis-
factorily to be determined from the form of the pelvis, than
from the skull. In this manner, we may hope to determine
the relative position, and the separate occupations (if any) of
the two sexes.
2. To observe carefully the state of the teeth, from which
we may derive information as to the nature of the food.
3. To preserve carefully any bones of quadrupeds that
may be present, in order to ascertain the species, and, in the
case of the ox and hog, to determine, if possible, whether
they belonged to wild or domesticated individuals.
As regards the pre-historic races of men we have as yet
derived but little definite information from the examination
of the tumuli. The evidence, however, appears to show that
the Celts were not the earliest colonisers of Northern Europe.
Putting on one side the mysterious “ kumbecephalic ” skulls
which have been already alluded to (p. 90), the men of the
Stone age in Northern Europe appear to have been brachy-
cephalic in a very marked degree, and to have had heavy,
overhanging brows. Many ethnologists are inclined to be-
lieve that the Turanian race, now represented in Europe by
the I ins, Lapps, and probably by the Basques, once occupied
RACES OF MEN.
117
the greater part of our continent, which was, however, even
before the beginning of history, wrested from them by the
Celts and the Teutons.
Worsaae declares without hesitation “that the inhabitants
of Denmark during the Stone period cannot have been the
Fins, whose descendants are the present inhabitants of
Lapland;”* grounding his opinion principally on the fact
that the megalithic tumuli of the Stone age are never found
either in the north of Sweden or in Norway. Moreover, we
must remember that the reindeer is intimately associated
with the Fins, whereas no remains of this animal have yet
been found in our tumuli or in the Danish shell-mounds.
It seems to me, however, that we must wait for more evi-
dence before we can hope to solve this question in a satis-
factory manner; but even if the Turanian races did once
spread over Europe, we ought not to conclude that they were
the aboriginal inhabitants of our continent. It is, on the
contrary, very possible that they were preceded by others,
and we may be sure that in the long period which elapsed
between the commencement of the Drift period and that of
the Polished Stone age, there were many wars and rumours
of wars, and very possibly several changes in the popu-
lation. What these were, however, we have at present
absolutely no evidence to show, and we can therefore only
confess our ignorance, and wait, in confident expectation, for
“more light.”
To return for a moment to the tumuli, we may fairly hope
that when properly questioned they will not only answer
many of these interesting questions, but that they will also
tell us many things which it would never occur to us to
ask. It is evident, at least, that when a sufficient number
shall have been examined we shall know many important
facts respecting life in those early ages; we shall know
* Primeval Antiquities of Denmark, p. 131.
118
PRE-HISTORIC RACES OF MEN.
whether during the Stone age they had domestic animals,
such as the ox and sheep, in the North, as would appear
to have been the case in Switzerland ; we shall know in
part what kind of clothes they wore, and by the remains
found with female skeletons we shall even be able to ascer-
tain, in some measure, the position occupied by woman with
reference to man.
119
CHAPTER V.
THE ANCIENT LAKE-HABITATIONS OF SWITZERLAND.
IN consequence of the extraordinary dryness and coldness
of the weather during the winter months of 1853,
the rivers of Switzerland did not receive their usual
supplies, and the water in the lakes fell much below its
ordinary level, so that, in some places, a broad strand was
left uncovered along the margin, while in others shallow
banks were converted into islands. The water level of this
season was, indeed, the lowest upon record. The lowest level
marked on the so-called stone of Stafa was that of 1674;
but in 1854 the water sank a foot.
M. Aeppli of Meilen, on the Lake of Zurich, appears to
have been the first to observe in the bed of the lake certain
specimens of human workmanship, which he justly supposed
might throw some light on the history and condition of the
early inhabitants of the Swiss valleys. In a small bay
between Ober Meilen and Dollikon, the inhabitants had
taken advantage of the lowness of the water to increase
their gardens, by building a wall along the new water-line,
and slightly raising the level of the piece thus reclaimed, by
mud dredged from the lake. In the course of this dredging
they found great numbers of piles, of deer-horns, and also
some implements. Fortunately the attention of Dr. Keller
was called to these remains, and the researches at Meilen,
conducted and described by him, have been followed by
similar investigations in other lakes, and have proved that
120 LAKE HABITATIONS MENTIONED BY HERODOTUS.
the early inhabitants of Switzerland constructed some, at
least, of their dwellings above the surface of the water, and
that they must have lived in a manner very similar to that
of the Pceonians, as described by Herodotus.*
“Their dwellings,” he says, “are contrived after this man-
ner : planks fitted on lofty piles are placed in the middle of
the lake, with a narrow entrance from the main land by a
single bridge. These piles, that support the planks, all the
citizens anciently placed there at the public charge ; but
afterwards they established a law to the following effect :
whenever a man marries, for each wife he sinks three piles,
bringing wood from a mountain called Orbelus : but every
man has- several wives. They live in the following manner :
every man has a hut on the planks, in which he dwells, with
a trap-door closely fitted in the planks, and leading down to
the lake. They tie the young children with a cord round
the foot, fearing lest they should fall into the lake beneath.
To their horses and beasts of burden they give fish for fodder ;
of which there is such an abundance, that when a man has
opened his trap-door, he lets down an empty basket by a
cord into the lake, and, after waiting a short time, draws
it up full of fish.”
In Ireland a number of more or less artificial islands called
“Crannoges”f (fig.: 119) are known historically to have been
used as strongholds ’by the petty chiefs. They are composed
of earth and stones, strengthened by piles, and have sup-
plied the Irish archaeologists with numerous weapons, imple-
ments, and bones. F rom the Crannoge at Dunshauglin, indeed,
more than one- hundred and fifty cartloads of bones were ob-
tained and used as manure ! These Lake-dwellings of Ireland,
howover, are referable to a much later period than those of
Switzerland, and are frequently mentioned in early history.
Thus, according to Shirley, “ One Thomas Phettiplace, in his
* Terpsichore, v. 14. -f See Wilde’s Catalogue, vol. i. p. 220.
CRANNOGES OF IRELAND.
121
answer to an inquiry from the Government, as to what castles
or forts O’Neil hath, and of what strength they be, states
(May 15, 1567): ‘For castles, I think it be not unknown
unto your honors, he trusteth no point thereunto for his
safety, as appeareth by the raising of the strongest castles of all
his countreys, and that fortification which he only dependeth
Fig. 119.
upon is in sartin ffreshiuater loghes in his country, which
from the sea there come neither ship nor boat to approach
them : it is thought that there in the said fortified islands
lyeth all his plate, which is much, and money, prisoners, and
gages : which islands, hath in wars to fore been attempted,
and now of late again by the Lord Deputy there, Sir Harry
Sydney, which for want of means for safe conducts upon the
water it hath not prevailed.’ ”
Again, the map of the escheated territories, made for the
Government, a.d. 1591, by Francis Jobson, or the “Platt
of the County of Monaghan,” preserved in the State Paper
Office, contains rough sketches of the dwellings of the petty
chiefs of Monaghan, which “arc in all cases surrounded by
water.” In the “Annals of the Four Masters,” and other
records of early Irish history, we meet with numerous in-
stances in which the Crannoges are mentioned, in some of
which their position has not preserved them from robbery
and destruction ; and we need not, therefore, be surprised to
find that many of the Swiss Pfahlbauten appear to have been
destroyed by fire.
122 LAKE-DWELLINGS IN VARIOUS PARTS OF EUROPE.
At the Newcastle meeting of the British Association, in 1863,
Lord Lovaine described a Lake-dwelling observed by him in
the South of Scotland ; and in the “Natural History Review”
for July, 1863, I had already mentioned one in the North,
which, however, had not at that time been thoroughly ex-
amined. Sir Charles Bunbury has recorded (Quarterly Journal
of the Geological Society, vol. xii. 1856) some similar remains
found near Thetford, which have been described at greater
length by Mr. Alfred Newton, in an interesting paper “On
the Zoology of Ancient Europe,” read before the Cambridge
Philosophical Society, in March, 1862. In his fifth memoir
on the Pfahlbauten,* Dr. Keller has described a Lake-dwelling
at Peschiera, on the L. di Garda ; and we are indebted to
MM. B. Gastaldi,t P. Strobel, and L. Pigorini for a de-
scription of ruins of a similar nature, which have been
found in Northern Italy. M. Boucher de Perthes, in his
celebrated work, “ Anticpiites Celtiques et Antediluviennes,”
mentions certain remains found in the peat near Abbeville,
which appear to have been the ruins of Lake-dwellings ;
an observation which is of special interest, as an additional
argument for referring the Swiss Lake-dwellings to the
period of the peat in the Somme valley, and therefore to an
epoch long subsequent to that of the drift-hatchets. This
inference is entirely in accordance with the conclusions de-
rived from the study of the stone implements themselves.
But it is not necessary to go back to pre-historic times ;
nor need we appeal to doubtful history or ancient remains for
evidence of the curious habit of water-dwelling. Many savage
or semi-savage tribes live in the same maimer, even at the
present day. I have been informed by a friend who lives at
* Mittheilungen der Antiquarischen pani, Prima ricerca di Abitazioni la-
Gesellsehaft in Zurich. 1863. custri nei Laghi di Lombardia. Atti
f Nuovi Cenni sugli oggetti di Alta della Soc. Italiana di Scienze Naturali,
Antiehita trovati nelle Torbiere e nelle 1863. vol. v. p. 154.
Marniere dell’ Italia. See also Stop-
PILE-DWELLINGS STILL USED IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES.
123
Salonica that the fishermen of Lake Prasias still inhabit
wooden cottages built over the water, as in the time of Herodo-
tus. The city of Tcherkask also is built over the Don. But it
is in the East Indies that this habit prevails most extensively.
The city of Borneo is altogether built upon piles, and similar
constructions have been described by various travellers in
New Guinea, Celebes, Solo, Ceram, Mindanao, the Caroline
Islands, and elsewhere. Dumpier long ago mentioned similar
dwellings constructed over the water, and Dumont d’Urville,*
quoted by M. Troyon, tells us that “ Jadis touto la ville de
Tondano etait construite sur le lac, et l’on ne commimiquait
d’une maison a line autre qu’en bateau. Forts de cctte disposi-
tion, en 1810, les habitants eurent des demeles avec les Ilollan-
dais, et voulurent secouer leur joug : ils s’armerent et furent
battus. Ce ne fut pas sans peine qu’on en vint a bout : il
fallut y porter de l’artilleric et construire des bateaux can-
noniers. Depuis ce temps, et pour e viter cet inconvenient,
on a defendu aux indigenes de construire leurs habitations
sur le lac.” The Bishop of Labuan thus describes the dwel-
lings of the Dyaks : “ They are built along the river side, on
an elevated platform twenty or thirty feet high, in a long
row ; or rather it is a whole village in one row of some
hundreds of feet long. The platforms are first framed with
beams, and then crossed with laths about two inches wide
and two inches apart, and in this way are well ventilated ;
and nothing remains on the floors, but all the refuse falls
through and goes below.” f
The Swiss “ Pfahlbauten,” or Lake-habitations, have been
described by Dr. Keller, in five memoirs presented to the Anti-
quarian Society of Zurich, in 1854, 1858, 1860, and 1863, and
by M. Troyon, in a special work, “ Sur les Habitations Lacus-
tres,” 1860, in which the author gives a general account of
* Voyage de 1’ Astrolabe, vol. v. p. 635.
f Trans, of the Ethnol. Soc., New Ser., vol. ii. p. 28.
124 pile-dwellings found in MOST OF THE SWISS LAKES,
wliiit has been done in Switzerland, and compares the ancient
habitations of his native land, with the Lake-dwellings of other
countries and times. The discoveries in Lake Moosseedorf
have been described by MM. Jahn and Uhlmann (Die Pfahl-
baualtcrthumer von Moosseedorf. Bern, 1857) ; the Lake-
habitation at the Pont de Thiele has 'also been described in
a separate memoir by M. V. Gillieron (Actes de la Societe
jurassienne d’Emulation. 1860) ; and we owe to Dr. Riiti-
meyer two works on the animal remains from the Pfahl-
bauten, the first, “ U ntersuchung dcr Thierreste aus den
Pfahlbauten der Schweiz,” published by the Antiquarian
Society of Zurich, in 1860 ; and ^till more recently, a larger
work — “Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz.” Col-
lections of objects from these localities have also been made
by many Swiss archaeologists. The Flora has been studied
by M. Heer, whose results are contained in the memoirs
published by Dr. Keller.
Nor must we omit to mention M. Morlot’s excellent paper in
the “Bulletin de la Societe Vaudoise (March, I860),” and his
no less admirable “Logon d’Ouverture d’un cours sur la haute
Antiquite fait a TAcad^mie de Lausanne (Dec. I860).” From
the conclusion of this lecture, indeed, I must express my dis-
sent : not that I would undervalue what M. Morlot calls the
“ practical utility of geology,” nor that I am less sanguine as
to the future advantages of archaeology. Science, how-
ever, is like virtue, its own reward, and the improvement
of the mind must be regarded as the highest object of
study. But M. Morlot is, to use his own metaphor, laboring
earnestly in the vineyard, and is improving the soil, though,
as in the old fable, it may be in the false hope of finding a
concealed treasure. The Swiss archceologists have indeed
made the most of a golden opportunity. Not only in the Lake
of Zurich, but also in Lakes Constance, Geneva, Neufchatel,
Bienne, Morat, Sempach, in fact in most of the large Swiss
STRUCTURE OF THE HUTS.
125
lakes, as well as in several of the smaller ones (Inkwyl,
Pfeffikon, Moosseedorf, Luissel, etc), similar Lake-habitations
have been discovered. In tbe larger lakes, indeed, not one,
but many of these settlements existed ; thus, there are
already on record, in Lake Bienne, twenty in the Lake of
Geneva, twenty-four; in Lake Constance, thirty-two; in Lake
JNeufchatel, as many as forty- six ; on the whole more than
two hundred ; and many others, doubtless, remain to be dis-
covered. Of those already known, some few belong to the
Iron age, and even to Roman times ; but the greater num-
ber appear to be divided in almost equal proportions between
the age of Stone and that of Bronze.
The dwellings of the Gauls arc described as having been
circular huts, built of wood and lined with mud. The huts
of the Pileworks were probably of a similar nature. This
supposition is not a mere hypothesis, but is confirmed by the
preservation of pieces of the clay used for the lining. Their
preservation is evidently due to the building having been
destroyed by fire, which has hardened the clay, and enabled
it to resist the dissolving action of the water. These frag-
ments bear, on one side, the marks of interlaced branches,
while on the other, which apparently formed the inner wall
of the cabin, they are quite smooth. Some of those which
have been found at Wangen are so large and so regular,
that M. Troyon feels justified in concluding that the cabins
were circular, and from ten to fifteen feet in diameter.
Though the architecture of this period was very simple,
still the weight to be sustained on the wooden platforms
must have been considerable ; and their construction, which
must have required no small labor,* indicates a large
population. It would, indeed, be most interesting if we
could construct a retrospective census for these early periods,
* “ Increasing density of population production.” Bastiat, Ilarmonies of
is equivalent to increasing facility of Political (Economy, p. 12.
126
ATTEMPT TO MAKE A CENSUS.
and M. Troyon has made an attempt to do so. The settle-
ment at Morges, which is one of the largest in the Lake
of Geneva, is 1200 feet long and 150 broad, giving a
surface of 180,000 square feet. Allowing the huts to have
been fifteen feet in diameter, and supposing that they oc-
cupied half the surface, leaving the rest for gangways, he
estimates the number of cabins at 311 ; and supposing again
that, on an average, each was inhabited by four persons, he
obtains for the whole a population of 1244. Starting from
the same data, he assumes for the Lake of Neufchatel a
population of about 5000. Sixty-eight villages, belonging
to the Bronze age, are supposed to have contained 42,500
persons ; while for the preceding epoch, by the same process
of reasoning, he estimates the population at 31,875.
So far as these calculations rest on the fragments of the clay
walls, they must be regarded as altogether unsatisfactory, since
Dr. Keller informs us that the largest pieces yet discovered
are only a foot in their greatest diameter. There is also good
reason to believe that the huts were not circular, but rectangu-
lar. Nor am I inclined to attribute much value to the esti-
mates of population based on the extent of the platforms. M.
Troyon himself admits that his “chiffres sont peut-etre un peu
eleves, en £gard aux habitations sur terrc ferme, dont il ne
peut etre question dans ce calcul, et vu qu’on est encore bien
loin de connaitrc tons les points des lacs qui ont, 4t£ occup^s,”
and, indeed, in the three years which have elapsed since his
book was written, the number of Lake-villages discovered has
been doubled. Moreover, M. Troyon assumes that the Lake-
villages of the Bronze age were contemporaneous, and that
the same was the case with those belonging to the Stone
age. This also I should be disposed to question ; both these
periods, but especially the Stone age, in all probability ex-
tended over a long series of years, and though in these
matters it is of course necessary to speak with much caution,
CONSTRUCTION OP THE PLATFORMS.
127
still if we are to make any assumption in the case, it would
seem safer to suppose that in each period some of the vil-
lages had perished, or been forsaken, before others were built.
We might feel surprise that a people so uncivilised should
have constructed their houses with immense labor on the
water, when it would have been so much more easy to have
built them on dry land. But we have already seen how,
even in historical times, such dwellings have served as simple
and yet valuable fortifications. The first settlers in Switzer-
land had to contend with the boar, the wolf, the bear, and
the urus ; and subsequently, when the population increased,
and disputes arose, the Lake-habitations, no doubt, acted as
fortifications, and protected man from man, as they had
before preserved him from wild beasts ; still, though it is
evident that the security thus given would amply compensate
for much extra labor, it remains difficult to understand in
what manner the piles were driven into the ground.
In many cases, indeed, settlements of the Stone age are
characterised by what are called “steinbergs,” that is to say,
artificial heaps of stones, etc., evidently brought by the
natives to serve as a support to the piles. In fact, they found
it easier to raise the bottom round the piles, than to drive
the piles into the bottom. On the other hand, some of these
constructions, as, for instance, those at Inkwyl and Wauwyl,
described respectively by M. Morlot and Col. Suter, more
closely resemble the Irish Crannoge. We see, therefore,
that, as Dr. Keller says, the Lake-dwellers followed two
different systems in the construction of their dwellings,
which he distinguishes as “ Pfahlbauten,” or Pilebuildings,
and “Packwerkbauten,” or Crannoges: in the first of which
the platforms were simply supported on piles ; in the second
of which the support consisted not of piles only, but of a solid
mass of mud, stones, etc., with layers of horizontal and per-
pendicular stakes, the latter serving less as a support than
128
CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLATFORMS.
to bind the mass firmly together. It is evident that the
“ Packwerkbau” is a much simpler and ruder affair than the
“ Pfahlbau,” in which no small skill must have been required
to connect the perpendicular and horizontal piles firmly to-
gether. Still the “ Packwerkbauten ” were not suitable for
the larger lakes, as during storms they would have been in-
jured by the waves, which must have passed hannlessly through
the open-work of the “Pfahlbauten.” We find, therefore, that
while the former method of construction prevailed only in,
small lakes or morasses, the latter was adopted in the larger
lakes, and even sometimes, as at Ebersberg, on dry land; a
custom which, however singular, exists even at the present
day, as, for instance, in the island of Borneo.
After having chosen a favorable situation, the first step
in the construction of the Lake-habitations was to obtain the
necessary timber. To cut down a tree with a stone hatchet
must have been no slight undertaking. It is, indeed, most
probable that use was made of fire, in the same manner as
is done by existing savages in felling trees and making
canoes. Burning the wood and then scraping away the
charred portion renders the task far more easy, and the men
of the Stone period appear to have avoided the use of large
trees, except in making their canoes. Their piles were im-
bedded in the mud for from one to five feet, and must also
have projected from four to six feet above the water level,
which cannot have been very different from what it is at
present. They must, therefore, have had a length of from
fifteen to thirty feet, and they were from three to nine inches
in diameter. The pointed extremity which entered into the
mud still bears the marks of the fire and the rude cuts made
by the stone hatchets. The piles belonging to the Bronze
period being prepared with metal axes, were much more
regularly pointed, and the differences between the two have
been ingeniously compared to those shown by lead pencils
DESCRIPTION OF THE REMAINS AT WAUWYL. 129
well and badly cut. To drag the piles to the lake, and fix
them firmly, must have required much labor, especially
when their number is considered. At Wan gen alone M.
Lohle has calculated that 40,000 piles have been used ; but
we must remember that these were probably not all planted
at one time, nor by one generation. Wangen, indeed, was cer-
tainly not built in a day, but was, no doubt, gradually en-
larged as the population increased. Herodotus informs us that
the Paeonians made the first platform at the public expense,
but that subsequently at every marriage (and polygamy was
permitted), the bridegroom was expected to add a certain
number of piles to the common support. In some localities,
as at Robenhausen, on Lake Pfaffikon, the piles were
strengthened by cross-beams. The pile- works of subsequent
periods differ little from those of the Stone age, so far at
least as can be judged by the parts remaining, but the piles
are less decayed, and project above the mud farther than is
the case with those of the preceding epoch.
Through the kindness of CoL Suter I had an opportunity
of examining the construction of the Lake-dwelling at Wau-
wyl, near Zofingen, in the Canton of Lucerne. This ap-
parently belonged to the Stone age, no trace of metal
having yet been discovered in it. It is situated in a peat
moss, which was evidently at one time the bed of a shallow
lake. By the gradual growth of peat, however, the level has
been raised several feet, and the plain has recently been
drained. We were assisted by six labourers, who dug out
the peat, which we then carefully examined. I mention this,
because the difference in the objects collected from different
Pfahlbauten, may probably be, in part at least, accounted for
by the different ways in which the search has been made. The
peat at Wauwyl varies in thickness from three to ten feet,
and rests on a white bed consisting of broken, fresh-water
shells. This stratum, though only a few inches thick, is
9
130
DESCRIPTION OF THE REMAINS AT WAUWYL.
found in the old beds of many small lakes, and is frequently
mentioned by the Swiss arehceologists under the name of
“ weiss°-rund.” It must not, however, be confounded with
the “ blancfond ” of the larger lakes. The piles go through
the peat and the “ weissgrund ” into the solid ground below.
It is not easy to obtain them whole, because the lower por-
tions are much altered by time, and so thoroughly saturated by
water, that they are quite soft. Col. Suter, however, extracted
two of them; one was 14ft. Gin. in length, of which 4ft. was in
the peat, and the remaining 10ft. Gin. in the sand beneath ; the
other was only 8ft. Gin. long, 4ft. of which was in the peat,
the other 4ft. Gin. in the solid ground. The piles vary from
three to five inches in diameter, and are always round, never
having been squared. The lower part is very badly cut, so
that it is difficult to understand how they can have been
forced to so great a depth into the ground.
In most of the Pfahlbauten the piles are scattered,
more or less irregularly, over the whole extent of the
settlement ; at Wauwyl this is not the case, but they en-
close, as it were, four quadrangular areas, the interiors of
which arc occupied by several platforms one over the other,
the interstices being filled up by branches, leaves, and peat.
The objects of antiquity are not scattered throughout the
peat, but lie either on the layer of broken shells, which
formed the then bottom of the lake, or in the lower part of
the peat. It is therefore evident that almost the whole, if not
the whole, of the peat has grown since the time at which this
interesting ruin was inhabited. The upper part had, how-
ever, been removed before our arrival, so that the “ cultur-
chicht,” the layer containing the objects of antiquity, was ex-
posed ready for examination in the manner already described.
Some of the piles still stand two or three feet above the
level of the peat, but the greater number are broken off
lower down. We stood on one of the upper platforms,
WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE LAKE-DWELLERS. 131
which seems to have been the floor on which the huts were
erected, and the beams of which are still perfectly preserved.
It was at first a question in what manner the platforms at
this place were supported ; whether they rested like a raft
on the surface of the water, rising and sinking with it ; or
whether they were fixed, and rested on a sort of artificial
island, formed by the clay, branches, etc., which now occupy
the interspaces between the different platforms. Subsequent
observations, however, confirmed as they have been by dis-
coveries elsewhere, as for instance, at Inkwyl and Niederwyl,
have decided the question in favor of the latter hypothesis.
During my "visit to Wauwyl we obtained four small stone
axes, one arrow-head, forty flint flakes, fifteen rude stone'
hammers, eight whetstones, thirty-
three slingstones, eight instruments
of bone, and two of wood, besides
numerous bones, and a great quantity
of broken pottery. Col. Suter re-
garded this as a fair average day’s
work. Altogether, about 350 instru-
ments of stone and bone have been
discovered at Wauwyl ; at Moossee-
dorf more than 1,300, at Wangen
more than 2,000, while M. Troyon
estimates that those at Concise must
have amounted to 25,000.
The axe was pre-eminently the.
implement of antiquity. It was
used in war and in the chase, as
well as for domestic purposes, and
great numbers have been found, especially at Wangen (Lake
of Constance) and Concise (Lake of Neufchatcl). With a few
exceptions, they were small, especially when compared with
the magnificent specimens from Denmark ; in length they
Fig. 120.
Swiss Stone Axe.
132
AXES. KNIVES.
varied from six inches to one, while the cutting edge had
generally a width of from fifteen to twenty lines. Flint was
sometimes used, and nephrite, or jade, in a few cases, hut
serpentine was the principal material. Most of the larger
settlements were evidently manufacturing places, and many
spoilt pieces and half-finished specimens have been found.
The process of manufacture is thus described by M. Troy on :
After having chosen a stone, the first step was to reduce it
by blows with a hammer to a suitable size. Then grooves
were made artificially, which must have been a very tedious
and difficult operation, when flint knives, sand, and water
were the only available instruments. Having carried the
grooves to the required depths, the projecting portions were
removed by a skilful blow with a hammer, and the implement
was then sharpened and polished on blocks of sandstone.
Sometimes the hatchet thus obtained was simply fixed in a
handle of horn or wood. Generally, however, the whole
instrument consisted of three parts. A piece of horn, two or
three inches in length, received the stone at one end, and was
squared at the other, so as to fit into a longer handle either
of wood or horn. These intermediate pieces present several
variations ; some are simply squared, while others have a pro-
jecting wing which rested against the handle ; some few are
forked as if to receive a wedge, and one has a small transverse
hole, apparently for the insertion of a peg. It is remarkable
that while in some places these horn axe-handles are numerous,
this being especially the case at Concise, whence several hun-
dred have been obtained, in other Lake- villages they are very
scarce: at Wangen, for instance, though more than 1,100 stone
axes have been found, M. Lolile has as yet met with only a
few handles, all of which were of wood. The axes appear to
have been fastened into the handles by means of bitumen.
The stone knives may be considered as of two sorts. Some
differ from the axes principally in having their width greater
ARROW-HEADS, SPINDLE WHORLS, FLINT FLAKES, ETC. 133
than their length. In other cases flint flakes were set in
wooden handles and fastened, like the axes, by means of
bitumen. Saws also were made in a similar manner, but
with their edges somewhat rudely dcntated ; we do not
find in Switzerland any of the semilunar stone implements,
which are frequent in Denmark. The arrow-heads were
made of flint, or in some cases of rock crystal, and were
of the usual forms. Spindle whorls fio. 121.
of rude earthenware (fig. 121) were
abundant in some of the Lake-villages
even of the Stone age. This indi-
cates a certain skill in weaving, of
which, as we shall presently see, there
is even more conclusive evidence.
There arc also found rounded stones,
pierced with one or sometimes two
L _ Spindle Whorl from Robenhausen
holes. The use of these is uncertain, (stone a^e)-
but they may perhaps have been used to sink fishing lines.
The flint flakes offer no peculiarities ; the Swiss specimens
are, however, of small size. The presence of corn-crushers,
which are round balls of hard stone, two to three inches in
diameter, proves that agriculture was known and practised
even in the Stone age.
The list of objects hitherto found at Wauwyl is as follows :
Stone axes, principally of serpen-
tine
Small flint arrow-heads
Flint flakes
Corn-crushers
Rude stones used as hammers,
common (say) . . .
Whetstones
Slingstones
28
22
136
13 \
20
18
43
Not all
collected.
In all about
280 articles of stone .
MATERIAL USED FOR STONE IMPLEMENTS.
131
The flint, of which the flakes and arrow-heads were
formed, must have come from a distance, and the best pieces
in all probability were obtained from France. Visits may
have been made to the French quarries, just as Catlin tells us
that the American tribes, from far and near, visited the red
pipestone quarry of Coteau des Prairies. A few fragments
of Mediterranean coral have been found at Concise, and of
Baltic amber at Meilen. Some archaeologists have argued
from these facts, that there must have been a certain amount
of commerce even in the Stone age. As, however, both these
settlements appear to have belonged to the transitional period
between the age of Stone and that of Bronze, it would be
safer to refer both the amber and the coral to the later period.
But the most important fact of this nature is the presence
of nephrite. This rock is not known to occur in the Alps,
or, indeed, in Europe ; some archaoologists have suggested
that it may possibly have been obtained from the conglome-
rate known as the “Nagelflue,” others think that it must
have been introduced from the East. Even if this is the
case, it would not be any proof of commerce, properly so
called ; but I should rather be disposed to think that the
nephrite had passed from hand to hand, and from tribe
to tribe, by a sort of barter. Other facts of a similar
nature are on record. Thus, Messrs. Squier and Davis
tell us, that in the tumuli of the Mississippi valley,
we find “ side by side, in the same mounds, native copper
from Lake Superior, mica from the Allcglianies, shells from
the Gulf, and obsidian (perhaps porphyry) from Mexico.”
Good representations of the sea-cow, or manatee, are found
a thousand miles from the shores inhabited by that animal,
and shells of the large tropical Pyrula perversa are found in
the tumuli round the great lakes, two thousand miles from
home.
Like other savages, the Lake - dwellers made the most
BONE IMPLEMENTS.
135
of any animal tliey could catch. They ate the flesh,
used the skin for clothing, picked every
fragment of marrow out of the bones, and
then, in many cases, fashioned the bones
themselves into weapons. The larger and
more compact ones served as hammers, and,
as well as horns of the deer, were used as
handles for hatchets. In some cases, pieces
of bone were worked to an edge, but they
are neither hard nor sharp enough to cut
well. Bone awls are numerous, and may
have been used in preparing skins for
clothes. Fig. 122 represents a chisel, or
scraper, of bone, from Wan gen. In most of
the settlements, ribs split open and pointed
at one end have been found, but for what
purpose they were intended it is difficult to say. Perhaps
they were used in netting, or in the manufacture of pottery.
A few objects made of wood have also been found at Wau-
wyl and elsewhere ; but these, even if originally numerous,
would be difficult to distinguish from the surrounding peat,
especially as it contains so many branches of trees and other
fragments of wood ; and it would also be very difficult to
extract them entire. Perhaps, therefore, implements of wood
may have been much more varied and common than the
collections would appear to indicate.
The pottery of the Stone age presents nearly the same
characters in all the settlements. Very rude and coarse, it
is generally found in broken pieces, and few entire vessels
have been obtained. There is no evidence that the potter’s-
whqel was known, and the baking is very imperfect, having
apparently taken place in an open fire. The material is also
very rude, and generally contains numerous grains of quartz.
The form is frequently cylindrical, but several of the jars
136
POTTERY.
are rounded at the base, and without feet. In some of the
Bronze age villages, rings of pottery are found, which were
evidently intended to serve as supports for these earthenware
tumblers, but none of them have yet been met with in any of
the Stone age villages. Possibly the earthenware during the
Stone age i*ested on the soft earth, and tables were only
introduced in the Bronze age, when by means of metallic
implements it became so much easier to cut wood, and
particularly to make boards. Many of the vessels had
small projections, which were pierced in such a manner
that strings might be passed through them, and which
may, therefore, have served for suspension. Some of
the vessels, also, are pierced by small holes at different
levels ; it has been suggested that these may have been
used in the preparation of curds, the small holes being in-
tended to permit the escape of the milk. The ornaments
on the pottery belonging to this age are of a very rude and
simple character. Sometimes a row of knobs runs round the
vase, just below the lip ; this style of ornamentation is com-
mon on the pottery found by M. Gillieron at the Pont de
Thiele. Another curious character is the frequent presence
of a row of depressions which do not completely penetrate
the thickness of the vessel ; but the commonest decorations
are simple lines or furrows made sometimes by a sharp instru-
ment, sometimes by the finger-nail, and occasionally produced
by pressing a cord on the soft clay. No representation of
any animal or vegetable has yet been met with ; indeed,
curved lines can hardly be said to exist, being very rare,
and when present very irregular and childish. It is true
that Dr. Keller gives a figure (also copied by Troyon, l.c.,
pi. vii. f. 35) of a vase found at Wangen (Stone age), on
which is a much more elaborate ornament, apparently in-
tended to represent leaves. This surprised me very much, but
having obtained, through the kindness of M. Morlot, a cast of
MANUFACTURES OF THE STONE PERIOD.
137
tlie fragment from which this drawing was copied, I am in a
position to state that the representation is very complimentary.
Although there can he little doubt that the skins of ani-
mals supplied the ancient Lake-dwellers with their principal
articles of clothing, still in several of the settlements, and
especially at AVangen and Robenhausen, both of which be-
long to the Stone age, pieces of rude fabric have been foimd
in some abundance. They consist either of flax fibres or
straw (fig. 123). The presence of spindle whorls has been
already mentioned.
Fig. 123.
Piece of Tissue from Robenhausen.
The antiquities found at AVauwyl, Robenhausen, at the
Pont de Thiele, at Moosscedorf, and elsewhere in small
lakes and peat-bogs, are more or less covered by a
thick layer of peat, which perhaps at some future date
will give us a clue to their age. On the contrary, in the
large lakes no peat grows. At the entrance of the rivers,
indeed, much mud and gravel is of course accumulated ; the
Lake of Geneva, for instance, once no doubt extended for a
considerable distance up the Valley of the Rhone. But the
gravel and mud brought down by that river are, as every
one knows, soon deposited, and the water of the lake is else-
where beautifully clear and pure.
138
COMPARISON OF THE PILES
The lake itself is very deep, in parts as much as nine
hundred and eighty feet ; and the banks are generally steep,
but round the margin there is, in most places, a fringe of
shallow water, due probably to the erosive action of the
waves, and known to the fishermen as the “ blancfond,”
because the lake is there of a pale greyish hue, when con-
trasted with the bright blue of the central deeper water.
It is on this “ blancfond,” and at a depth of sometimes as
much as fifteen feet, that the Pfahlbauten were generally
constructed. On calm days, when the surface of the water is
unruffled, the piles arc plainly visible. Few of them now
project more than two feet from the bottom ; eaten away by
the incessant action of the water, some of them “n’apparais-
sent plus que comme aiguilles,” which finally also disappear,
and leave only a black disk at the surface of the mud. This,
however, is the case principally in the Lake- villages of the
Stone age. “Ce qui les distingue surtout,” says Prof. Desor,
“c’est la qualite des pieux, qui sont beaucoup plus gros que
ceux des stations du bronze : ce sont des troncs entiers, rnesu-
rant jusqu’a 28 et 30 centimetres. Au lieu de faire saillie
dans l’eau, ils sont a fleur du fond.” On the other hand, in
speaking of the Bronze age piles, he says : “ Les pieux sont
plus greles ; ce sont frequemmcnt des troncs fondus en quatre,
n’excedant guere 4, au plus 5 pouces de diametre ; au lieu
d’etre a fleur du fond, ils s’elevcnt de 1 a 2 pieds au-dessus
de la vase, ce qui permet de les rcconnaitre facilement, mal-
gre lcur plus grand profondeur.” M. Trovon also tells us
that “On peut dire que les pilotis de la fin du deuxieme age,
anciens de plus de deux mille ans et saillants d’un a trois
pieds au-dessus de la vase, presentent a peu pres partout le
meme aspect, tandis que ceux de l’age de la pierre out ete
generalemcnt us4s jusqu’a la surface du limon dont ils sont
parfois recouverts.”*
* Les Constructions lacustres du lac de Neufchatel.
BELONGING TO THE STONE AND BRONZE AGE.
139
Tlio more complete destruction of the piles belonging- to
the earlier period depends not only on their greater age, but
on their occurrence in shallower water. The action of the
waves being greatest near the surface, and diminishing gra-
dually downwards, not only are those piles which occupy the
deeper parts, least liable to destruction, but in each the
erosion takes place gradually from above, so that the
upper end of the piles is often more regularly pointed
even than the lower. Lying among- them are fragments
of bone, horn, pottery, and sometimes objects of bronze.
Most of these are imbedded, in the mud or hidden under
the stones, but others lie on the bottom yet uninjured ;
so that when for the first time I saw them through the
transparent water, a momentary feeling of doubt as to their
age rose in my mind. So fresh and so unaltered, they -look
as if they were only things of yesterday, and it seems hard to
believe that they can have remained there for centuries. The
explanation of the difficulty is, however, to be found in the
fact that the action of the most violent storms is perceptible
only to a small depth. Except, therefore, near the mouths
of rivers, or where there is much vegetation, the deposition
of mud at depths greater than four feet is an extremely slow
process, and objects which fall to the bottom in such situa-
tions will neither be covered over nor carried away. “ J’ai
peche,” says M. Troyon, “sur l’emplacement en face du Mou-
lin de Bevaix, les fragments d’un grand vase qui gisaient a
peu do distance les uns des autres, et quo j’ai pu rcunir de
manierc a les remontre completement. A la Tongue, pres
d’Hermance, j’ai trouve les deux fragments d’un anneau sup-
port, distants de quelques pieds, qui, en les rapprochant ne
laissent aucun interstice.” The upper parts of the objects
also, which are bathed by the water, are generally covered by
a layer of carbonate of lime, while the lower part which has
sunk into the mud is quite unaltered. M. Troyon once
140
THE FAUNA OF THE
obtained at Cortaillod a pair of bracelets in one haul of the
dredge — the first, which had been visible from the boat, was
©
greenish and covered with incrustation ; the second, which
had been hi the mud immediately below, was as fresh as if it
had only just been cast.
As piles of the Bronze age are sometimes found at a
depth of as much as fifteen feet, and it is manifest that
buildings cannot have been constructed over water much
deeper than this, it is evident that the Swiss lakes cannot
since that period have stood at a much higher level than at
present. This conclusion is confirmed by the position of
Homan remains at Thonon, on the Lake of Geneva, and we
thus obtain satisfactory evidence that the height of the Swiss
lakes must have remained almost unaltered for a very long
period.
For our knowledge of the animal remains from the Pile-
works we are almost entirely indebted to Prof. Riitimeyer,
who has published two memoirs on the subject (Mittheilungen
der Antiq. Gesellschaft in Zurich, Bd. xiii. Abth. 2, 1860 ;
and, more recently, a separate work, Die Fauna der Pfahlbau-
ten in der Schweiz, 1861). The bones are in the same frag-
mentary condition as those from the Kjokkenmoddings, and
have been opened in the same manner for the sake of the
marrow. There is also the same absence of certain bones
and parts of bones, so that it is impossible to reconstruct a
perfect skeleton, even of the commonest animal.
The total number of species amounts to about seventy, of
which ten are fishes, three reptiles, twenty birds, and the
remainder quadrupeds. Of the latter, six species may be
considered as having been domesticated, namely, the dog,
pig, horse, goat, sheep, and at least two varieties of oxen.
The bones very seldom occur in a natural condition, but those
of domestic and wild animals are mixed together, and the
state in which they are found, the marks of knives upon them,
SWISS LAKE-DWELLINGS.
14]
and tlieir having been almost always broken open for the sake
of the marrow, are all evidences of human interference.
Two species, the one wild, the other domestic, are especially
numerous — the stag and the ox. Indeed, the remains of these
two equal those of all the others together. It is, however,
an interesting fact, that in the older settlements, as at
Moosseedorf, Wauwyl, and Itobenhausen, the stag exceeds
the ox in the number of specimens indicated, while the
reverse is the case in the more modern settlements of the
western lakes, as, for instance, those at Wangen and Meilen.
Next to these in order of abundance is the hog. Less nu-
merous again, and generally represented by single specimens
where the preceding occur in numbers, are the roe, the goat,
and the sheep, which latter is most abundant in the later set-
tlements. With these rank the fox and the martens. Foxes
are occasionally eaten by the Esquimaux,* and Cajitain Lyon
seems to have taken rather a fancy to them.f They also
appear, whether from choice or necessity, to have been eaten
during the Stone period. This conclusion is derived from
the fact that the bones often present the marks of knives,
and have been opened for the sake of the marrow. While,
however, the fox is very frequent in the Pileworks of the
Stone epoch, it has not yet been found in any settlement
belonging to the Bronze period. Oddly enough, the dog is
rarer than the fox, at least as far as the observations yet go, in
the Lake-dwellings of the Stone period, though more common
than the horse ; and of other species but few specimens have
been met with, though in some localities the beaver, the
badger, and the hedgehog appear in some numbers. The
bear and the wolf, as well as the urus, the bison, and the elk,
seem to have occasionally been captured ; it is probable that
the latter species were taken in concealed pits.
* Crantz, History of Greenland, vol. i. p. 73.
f Lyons’ Journal, p. 77-
142 STAG.
BOAR. BULL.
GOAT. SHEEP. DOG.
From the small lake at Moosseedorf, M. Eutimeyer has
identified the following list : — Of the dog, three specimens ;
fox, four specimens ; heaver, five specimens ; roe, six speci-
mens ; goat and sheep, ten specimens ; cow, sixteen speci-
mens ; hog, twenty specimens ; stag, twenty specimens. It
is certainly very striking to find two wild species repre-
sented by the greatest number of specimens, and particularly
so, since this is no exceptional case ; but the whole sum of
the wild, exceeds that of the domesticated individuals, a
result, moreover, which holds good in other settlements
of this epoch. Not only does this indicate a great antiquity,
but it also proves that the population must have been some-
times subjected to great privations, partly from the unavoid-
able uncertainty of supplies so obtained, partly because it is
improbable that foxes would have been eaten except under
the pressure of hunger.
The bones of the stag and the wild boar often indicate
animals of an unusual magnitude, while, on the other hand,
the fox appears to have been somewhat smaller than at present.
The dogs varied less than they do now; in fact they all belong
to one variety, which was of middle size, and appears to have
resembled our present beagles. (M. Eutimeyer describes it
as “resembling the Jagdhund” and the “ Wachtelkund.”)
The slice}) of the Stone period differed from the ordinary
form, in its small size, fine legs, and short, goat-like horns :
particulars, in which it is nearly resembled by some northern,
and mountain, varieties at the present day, as, for instance,
by the small sheep of the Shetlands, Orkneys, Welsh hills,
and parts of the Alps. At Wauwyl, however,. M. Eutimeyer
found traces of an individual with large horns. Our know-
ledge of the wild species of sheep is so deficient, that M.
Eutimeyer docs not venture to express any opinion concern-
ing the origin of the domestic varieties, except that he is
inclined to trace them up to several wild races.
4
TABLES OF THE ANIMAL REMAINS. 143
In his first memoir, Prof. Rutimeyer gives an interesting-
table, which, with some additions which I owe to the courtesy
of Prof. Rutimeyer, is here subjoined, premising that 1 denotes
a single individual ; 2, several individuals ; 3,, the species
which are common ; 4, those which arc very common ; 5,,
those which are present in great number.
Moosseedorf.
5?
3
a
£
Robenhausen.
a
<u
fcn
c
55
£
Meilen.
Copcise.
Bienne.
1 Ursus Arctos
2
2
2
2
2 Meles vulgaris
2
2
3
1
3
3 Mustela Foina
2
3
2
F
4 „ Martes
2
3
2
1
2
5 „ Putorius
2
2
1
1
6 „ Enninea
2
...
...
7 Lutra vulgaris
i
...
2
8 Canis Lupus
...
i
1
1
1
1
9 ,, familiaris (palus-
tris)
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
10 „ „ major...
...
...
...
...
...
...
11 „ Vulpes
3
3
3
2
2
2
I 12 Felis Catus
2
2
1
...
13 Erinaceus europacus ...
1
1
3
...
14 Castor Fiber
3
2
2
...
2
15 Sciurus europmus
2
2
2
i
...
16 Mus sylvaticus
...
...
1
...
...
I 17 Lepus timidus
1
...
...
...
18 Sus Scrofa ferus
3
O
4
P
2
2
2
19 „ Palustris ferus-
5
0
3
5
5
2
2
20 ,, Scrofa domesticus ..
i
...
1
1
Morges
21 „ Palustris domesticus
i
l
2
1
i
2
4
Morges
22 Equus Caballus
i
2
1
1
1
2
3
Estav.
23 Cervus Aloes
i
1
2
. . .
2
1
1
24 „ Elaphus
5
o
5
5
5
5
5
25 ,, Capreolus
4
2
3
2
2
3
...
26 ,, Dama
• • •
p
...
1
Estav.
27 Capra Ibex
...
...
...
i
...
...
28 „ Hircus
2
2
2
...
2
3-4
29 Ovis Aries
2
1
2
...
i
3
3-4
30 Antilope rupicapra
...
1
'?•
...
...
31 Bos primigcnius
2
2
3
...
2
...
32 „ Bison
...
1
2
...
...
...
33 „ Taurus primigcnius
2
?
5
P
2
5
2
34 ,, brachyceros
0
5
2
5
5
2
5
35 „ trocboceros
...
...
...
...
...
2
36 „ Taurus frontosus...
...
...
**•
. . .
...
i
The almost entire absence of the hare is doubtless owing
144
BIRDS.
to the curious prejudice which was and is entertained by
many races against the flesh of this animal. It was never
eaten by the ancient Britons, and is avoided by the Lapps at
the present day. Among the Hottentots it was eaten by the
women, but was forbidden to men.* It was regarded as un-
clean by the Jews, being erroneously supposed to chew the
cud. According to Crantz, the Greenlanders, if in want, will
eat foxes rather than hares. t Finally, its remains do not
occur in the Danish shell-mounds.
The birds which have been discovered are : —
Aquila fulva. The golden eagle. At Hobenhausen.
Aquila halioetus. A single bone found at Moosseedorf
is rather doubtfully referred to this species by
M. Butimeyer.
Falco milvus. Hobenhausen.
Falco palumbarius. TVauwyl, Moosseedorf.
Falco nisus. Moosseedorf.
Strix aluco. Concise.
Sturnus vulgaris. Hobenhausen.
Corvus corona. „
Cinclus aquaticus. „
Columbus palumbus ,, Moosseedorf.
Tetrao bonasia. ,,
Ciconia alba. Not unfrequent at Moosseedorf and Bobenh.
Ardea cinerea. Hobenhausen.
Fulica atra. ,,
Larus. Sp. in ,,
Cygnus olor ,,
Anser segetum. ,,
Anas bosclias. Hobenhausen, Moosseedorf, Wauwyl.
Anas qucrquedula. ,, „
Podiceps minor. „
* Kolben’s Cape of Good Hope, vol. i. p. 205.
t History of Greenland, p. 73.
ABSENCE OF THE RAT, MOUSE, CAT, ETC.
145
The reptiles and fishes are represented by about ten of our
commonest species.
The common mouse and our two house-rats, as well as the
domestic cat and the barn-door fowl, are absent from the
Lake-habitations of Switzerland, as also from the Kjokken-
moddings of Denmark ; Prof. Rutimeyer attributes to a later
period a single bone of the latter bird which was found at
Morgcs, a settlement belonging to the Bronze period.
The earliest remains of the ass mentioned by Prof. Riiti-
meyer are those found at Chavannes and Noville, which,
however, were not connected with Pfahlbauten, and belonged
to post- Roman times.
It is singular, that though remains of the horse have
been found in all the Pileworks, they are so rare that their
presence may almost be considered accidental : thus, Wangen
has only produced a single tooth ; Moosseedorf, a metatarsal
bone, which has been polished on one side ; Robenhausen, a
single Os naviculare tarsi; and Wauwyl, only a few bones,
which may all have belonged to a single individual. On the
other hand, when we come to the Bronze period, we find at
Nidau numerous bones of this species; so that, as far as
these slight indications go, the horse, even if present in the
Stone age, seems to have been rarer than at subsequent
periods. All the remains of this animal belonged ap-
parently to the domestic variety.
Though he refers some bones to the wild boar, and
others to the domestic hog, yet Prof. Rutimeyer considers
that the greatest number of the remains of this genus
belong to a different race, which he calls Sus scrofa
palustris. This variety was, in his opinion, less powerful
and dangerous than the wild boar, the tusks being much
smaller in proportion; in fact, he describes it as having,
with the molar teeth of an ordinary full-grown wild boar
premolars, canines, and incisives resembling those of a young
10
146
COMPARISON OF THE BONES BELONGING TO
domestic hog. He considers that all the bones of this variety
from Moossecdorf belonged to wild individuals, while of
those from Nidau, Robenhausen, Wauwyl, and Concise, some
bear, in his opinion, evidences of domestication. It has been
supposed by some naturalists that this variety was founded
only on female specimens, but in his last work Prof. Riiti-
meyer combats this opinion at some length, and gives copious
descriptions and measurements of the different parts. He also
points out numerous sexual differences in the S. palustris, of
the same nature, but not so well marked, as those of the wild
boar. Relying also on its well-defined geographical and
historical range, he denies that it can be considered as a
cross between the wild boar and domestic hog, or that the
differences which separate it from the former can be looked
upon as mere individual peculiarities. lie considers, in-
deed, that as a wild animal it became extinct at a very
early period, though the tame swine of India, which
agree closely with this race, may perhaps have descended
from it.
Our domestic hog first makes its appearance in the later
Pileworks, as, for instance, at Concise. .Prof. Riitimeyer does
not, however, believe that it was tamed by the inhabitants
of Switzerland, but is rather disposed to look upon it as
having been introduced during the Bronze age, and the more
so, as he also finds at Concise traces of an ox ( B . trochoceros)
which does not occur in the earlier Pileworks.
In endeavouring to ascertain whether any given bones
belonged to a wild or domesticated animal, we must be
guided by the following considerations : the number of in-
dividuals represented ; the relative proportions of young
and old ; the absence or presence of very old individuals,
at least in the case of species that served for food ; the traces
of long, though indirect, selection, in diminishing the size of
any natural weapons which might be injurious to man ; the
WILD AND DOMESTICATED RACES.
147
direct action of man during the life of the animal; and
finally the texture and condition of the bones.
Applying these considerations to the Sus palustris from
Moosseedorf, it is evident, says Prof. Riitimeyer, firstly, that
the argument derivable from the number of young specimens
loses much of its force on account of the great fertility of the
sow, and the ease with which the young can be found and
destroyed ; secondly, in the number of individuals repre-
sented, it is equalled by the stag, which certainly was never
domesticated ; thirdly, some bones of very old individuals
have been found, and some of very young, even of unborn
pigs ; the smallness of the tusks is, according to Prof. Riiti-
meyer, a characteristic of the race and not an evidence of
domestication ; the bones are of a film and close texture,, and
the only cases of decay have arisen from an extreme degrada-
tion of the teeth, which would certainly be unlikely to occur
in a domestic animal. Finally,, none of the teeth show
traces of any filing or other preparation, except such as may
have taken place after the death of the animal ; from all which
reasons Prof. Riitimeyer infers that the inhabitants of Moos-
seedorf had not yet succeeded in taming either the Sus scrofa
palustris or the Sus scrofa ferus.
Prof. Riitimeyer has paid great attention to the texture and
condition of the bones themselves, and believes that he can
in many cases from these alone distinguish the species, and
even determine whether the bone belonged to a wild or a
domesticated animal.
In wild animals the bones are of a firmer and closer tex-
ture ; there is an indescribable, but to the accustomed eye
very characteristic, sculpturing of the external surface, pro-
duced by the sharper and more numerous impressions of
vessels, and the greater roughness of the surfaces for the
attachment of muscles. There is also an exaggeration of all
projections and ridges, and a diminution of all indifferent
148
RACES OF OXEN.
surfaces. In the consideration of the remains of oxen, these
distinctions have proved of the greatest importance. By their
assistance, and this is in many respects one of the most
interesting parts of the work, Prof. Riitimeyer has convinced
himself that besides the two wild species of bos, namely,
the urus (B. primigenius ) and the aurochs (B. bison or Bison
Europceus), three domestic races of oxen occur in Pileworks.
The first of these is allied to, and in his opinion descended
from, the urus, and he therefore calls it the Primigenius race.
This variety occurs in all the Pileworks of the Stone period.
The second or Trochoceros race, he correlates with a fossil
species described under this name by F. von Meyer, from the
diluvium of Arezzo and Siena. This variety has hitherto
only been found at Concise.
The third, or Longifrons race, is by far the most common
of the three. It occurs in all the Pileworks, and at Moos-
seedorf and Wangen — that is to say, in the settlements which
are supposed to be the oldest — almost to the exclusion of the
Primigenius race. Prof. Riitimeyer considers that it is the
domesticated form of B. longifrons of Owen, but as the word
“longifrons” seems to him to be inappropriate and incorrect,
he uses the name “ brachyceros,” which was originally pro-
posed in manuscript by Owen for this species, but which has
also been used by Gray for an African species, and ought,
not therefore to be adopted.
A subsequent portion of the work is devoted to the ex-
amination of the existing races of European oxen. The old
Trochoceros race Prof. Riitimeyer considers to be extinct, but
he sees in the great oxen of Friesland, Jutland, and Holstein,
the descendants of the Bos primigenius. This race does not
now occur in Switzerland, but he considers that there are at
present in that country two distinct varieties of domestic
oxen. The one of various shades between light grey and
dark brown, but without spots, and prevailing in Schwyz,
ABSENCE OF EXTINCT SPECIES.
149
llri, Valais, etc., in fact, in the whole country south of a
line drawn from the Lake of Constance to Valais, agrees in
its general osteologieal characters with the Bos longifrons of
Owen. The other or spotted variety, which is generally of
larger size, and prevails in Northern Switzerland, is con-
sidered by Prof. Rutimeyer to be descended from the B-
frontosus, a species found fossil in Sweden, and described
by Nilsson.
I will not express any opinion of my own as to these con-
clusions. The subject is one no less difficult than important,
and my space does not permit me to lay before my readers
the details given by Prof. Rutimeyer, to whose work there-
fore those must refer who wish for more information on
the subject. All naturalists must feel much indebted to
Prof. Rutimeyer for the labor he has spent and the light he
has thrown upon the subject, whether we eventually adopt
his conclusions or not.
Making allowance for the marine animals, such as seals
and fish, oysters, cockles, whelks, etc., which we could
not expect to find so far away from the sea, the fauna
indicated by the remains found in the Swiss lakes agrees
remarkably with that which characterises the Danish Kjok-
kenmoddings, and belongs evidently to a far later age than
that of the celebrated stone hatchets, which were first made
known to us by the genius and perseverance of M. Boucher
de Perthes.
Instead of the elephant and rhinoceros we find in the
later or second stone period — in that, namely, of the Kjok-
kenmoddings and “ Pfuhlbauten” — the urus and bison, the
elk, and the red deer already installed as monarchs of the
forest. The latter, indeed, with the boar, appears to have
been very frequent, and to have formed a most important
article of food to the Lake- dwellers. The urus, or great
fossil ox, is now altogether extinct, at least as a wild
150
THE AUROCHS AND ELK.
species.* It is mentioned by Caesar, who describes it as
being little smaller than an elephant. (Hi sunt magnitudine
paulo infra elcphantos, specie et colore et figura tauri.)
According to Herberstein, it still existed in Germany during
the sixteenth century, soon after which, however, it must
have become extinct.
The aurochs, or European bison, seems to have disappeared
from Western Europe, at about the same period as the urus.
There is no historical record of its existence in England or
Scandinavia. In Switzerland we cannot trace it later than
the tenth century ; but it is mentioned in the “ Niebelungcn
Lied,” of the twelfth century, as occurring in the Forest of
Worms, and in Prussia the last was killed in the year 1775.
At one period, indeed, it appears to have inhabited almost
the whole of Europe, much of Asia, and part even of America,
but at present it is confined in Europe to the imperial forests
in Lithuania, where it is preserved by the Emperor of Russia ;
while, according to Nordmann and Yon Baer, it still exists
in some parts of W estern Asia.
We have no notice of the existence of the elk in Switzer-
land during the historical period, but it is mentioned by
Caesar as existing in the great Hercynian forest ; and even
in the twelfth century it was to be met with in Sclavonia
and Hungary, according to Albertus Magnus and Gesner.
In Saxony, the death of the last is recorded as having oc-
curred in 1746. At present it inhabits Prussia and Lithuania,
Finland and Russia, Scandinavia and Siberia, to the shoi’es
of the Amoor.
The ibex disappeared from most of the Swiss Alps, perhaps
not much later than the elk. It has lingered longest in the
West. In Glarus the last one perished in 1550, though near
* Prof. Itutimcyer, however, con- though dwarfish, descendants of the
aiders that the celebrated wild cattle of B. primigenius.
Tankerville Park are unmistakcable,
THE IBEX AND BEAR.
151
Chiavenna it existed until the commencement of the seven-
teenth century, and in the Tyrol until the second half of the
eighteenth, while it still maintains itself in the mountains
surrounding Mont Iseran.
The extermination of the bear, like that of the ibex, seems
to have begun in the East, and not yet to be complete, since
this animal still occurs in the Jura, in Valais, and in the
south-eastern parts of Switzerland. The fox, the otter, and
the different species of weasels, are still the common car-
nivora of Switzerland, and the wild cat, the badger, and the
wolf still occur in the Jura and the Alps, the latter in cold
winters venturing even into the plains. The beaver, on the
contrary, has at last disappeared. It had long been very
rare in Switzerland, but a few survived until the beginning
of the present century, in Lucerne and Valais. Red deer
were abundant in the Jura and Black Forest in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, though they do not appear to have
been so large as those which lived in earlier times. The last
was shot in the canton of Basle, at the close of the eighteenth
century, while in western Switzerland and Valais they lin-
gered somewhat longer. The roedeer still occurs in some
places.
The Fauna thus indicated is certainly very much what
might have been expected. We find among the remains
of the Lake-dwellings most of the species which characterise
the post-tertiary epoch in Europe. Some of the larger ones
have since fallen away in the struggle for existence, and
others are becoming rarer and rarer every year, while some
maintain themselves even now, thanks only to the inclemency
and inaccessibility of the mountainous regions which they
inhabit. The gradual process of extermination, which has
continued ever since, had even then begun.
Taken as a whole, therefore, the animals of the Swiss Pile-
works belong evidently to the fauna which commenced in.
152
GENERAL CHARACTER
post-tertiary times with the mammoth, the rhinoceros ticho-
rhinus, the cave bear, and the fossil hyaena.
While, however, we must regard the fauna of the Stone
age as belonging to the same great zoological epoch with that
of the river drift gravels on the one hand, and the present
time on the other, we cannot forget that the immense period
which has elapsed since the end of the tertiary period has
produced great changes in the fauna of Europe. In this
post-tertiary era the Pileworks occupy, so to say, the middle
position. Distinguished from the present fauna of Switzer-
land by the possession of the urus, the bison, the elk, the
stag, and the wild boar, as well as by the more general dis-
tribution of the beaver, the bear, the ibex, etc., their fauna
differs from the drift gravels in the absence of the mammoth,
the rhinoceros, the cave bear, and the cave hyaena.
Prof. Riitimeycr thinks that from these considerations
alone, even if we had no other evidence, we might carry this
division farther ; and if we take the settlements at Moossee-
dorf, Wauwyl, Pobenhausen, and Nidau, which have been
the most carefully studied in this respect, the three former,
which belong to the Stone age, certainly offer a marked con-
trast to the latter, which is the locality whence the largest
number of bronze objects has as yet been obtained.
It is of course unnecessary to point out the interest and
importance of such a distinction, which accords so well with
that indicated by the study of the weapons and the state of
preservation of the piles. Tlius, the urus has only occurred
at Moosseedorf, Wauwyl, Pobenhausen, and Concise; the
aurochs only at Wauwyl and Pobenhausen ; the bear only
at Moosseedorf and Meilen. A glance at the table given at
page 167, will show that several other species have as yet
only occurred at Moosseedorf and Pobenhausen ; a fact, how-
ever, which indicates rather the richness than the antiquity
of these localities. Possibly, we may consider the presence
OF THE FAUNA.
153
of these larger species as an indication of their greater
abundance in the oldest period ; hut we must not forget
that not only the hear and the elk, but also the aurochs
and the urns appear at a comparatively late period. On
the other hand, the abundance of wild animals, and the
fact that at Moosseedorf and Wauwyl the fox was more
abundant than the dog, while elsewhere the reverse is the
case, certainly speak in favor of the greater antiquity of
these two settlements.
The evidence derived from the distribution of the domestic
animals is, perhaps, more satisfactory. The sheep is present
even at Moosseedorf, though not so numerous as at Nidau.
On the other hand, the horse is frequent at Nidau, while at
Moosseedorf only a single hone of this animal was discovered,
in a different condition from that of the other bones, and
probably more recent. Finally, the domestic hog of the
present race is absent from all the Pileworks of the Stone
period, excepting the one at Wauwyl, and becomes frequent
only at Nidau.
If succeeding investigations confirm the conclusions thus
indicated, we may infer that the domestic animals, which
were comparatively rare in the Stone period, became more
frequent after the introduction of bronze ; a change indi-
cating and perhaps producing an alteration of habits on
the part of the inhabitants.
Pare, indeed, as they may have been, oxen, horses, sheep,
and goats could not be successfully kept through the winter
in the climate of Switzerland, without stores of provisions
and some sort of shelter. A pastoral people, therefore, must
have reached a higher grade than a mere nation of hunters.
We know, moreover, in another way, that at this period
agriculture was not entirely unknown. This is proved in
the most unexpected manner, by the discovery of carbonised
cereals at various points. Wheat is most common, having
154
THE FLORA OF
been discovered at Meilen, Moosseedorf, and W angen. At the
latter place, indeed, many bushels of it were found, the grains
being united in large thick lumps. In other cases the
grains are free, and without chaff, resembling our present
wheat in size and form, while more rarely they are still in
the ear. Ears of the Hordeum hexastichon L. (the six-rowed
barley) are somewhat numerous. This species differs from
the H. vulgare L. in the number of rows and in the smaller
size of the grains. According to De Candolle, it was the
species generally cultivated by the ancient Greeks, Homans,
and Egyptians. In the ears from Wangen, each row has
generally ten or eleven grains, which, however, are smaller
and shorter than those now grown.
Still more unexpected was the discovery of bread, or rather
cakes, for leaven does not appear to have been used. They
were flat and round, from an inch to fifteen lines in thick-
ness, and, to judge from one specimen, had a diameter of
four or five inches. In other cases the grains seem to have
been roasted, coarsely ground between stones, and then either
stored up in large earthenware pots, or eaten after being
slightly moistened. Grain prepared in a similar manner was
used in the Canary Islands at the time they were conquered
by Spain, and even now constitutes the principal food of the
poorer classes. In what way the ground was prepared for
the cultivation of corn we know not, as no implements have
as yet been discovered, which can with certainty be regarded
as agricultural.
Carbonised apples and pears have been found at Wan-
gen, sometimes whole, sometimes cut into two, or more
rarely into four pieces, and evidently dried and put aside
for winter use. Apples are more numerous than pears,
and have occurred not only at Wangen, but also at Roben-
hausen in Lake Pfetfikon, and at Concise in Lake Neuf-
chatel. Both apples and pears are small, and resemble
THE PFAHLBAUTEN.
155
those which still grow wild in the Swiss forests. No traces of
the vine, the cherry, or the damson have yet been met with,
but stones of the wild plum and the Prunus padus have been
foimd. Seeds of the raspberry and blackberry, and shells
of the hazel-nut and beech-nut occur plentifully in the
mud.
From all this, therefore, it is evident that the nourishment
of the dwellers in the Pileworks consisted of corn and wild
fruits, of fish, and the flesh of wild and domestic animals.
Doubtless also milk was an important article of their diet.
The list of plants found in the Pileworks stands as
follows : —
Pinus abies.
„ picea.
„ sylvestris.
„ Mughus.
Quercus Robur.
Fagus sylvatica.
Populus tremula.
Betula alba.
Alnus glutinosa.
Corylus Avellana.
Prunus spinosa.
„ Padus.
„ avium.
Tilia.
%
Carpinus Betulus.
Cornus sanguinea.
Taxus baccata.
Rubus idscus.
„ fruticosus.
Fragaria vesca.
Carum Carvi.
Heracleum Spondylium.
156
SCARCITY OF HUMAN BONES.
Wheat.
Hordeum distichum.
„ hexastichum.
Trapa natans. This species was supposed to he extinct
in Switzerland, but it has recently been discovered
in a living condition. It is, however, very local.
Flax.
J uncus.
Arundo.
Nymphaea alba.
Nuphar luteum.
„ pumilum.
Neither hemp, oats, nor rye have yet been found. Small
pieces of twine and bits of matting made of flax may have
been part of some article of clothing. For this purpose
also there can be little doubt that the skins of animals
were used, and some of the stone implements seem well
adapted to assist in their preparation, while the bone pins,
and the needles made from the teeth of boars, may have
served to fasten them together.
To what race of men these interesting remains are ascrib-
able, we have as yet no direct evidence. Human bones are
very rare in the Pileworks, and may probably be referred to
accidents, especially as we find that those of children are
most numerous. M. Desor, indeed, states that not a single
human skeleton has yet been found in any of the stations
belonging to the Stone age, and Dr. Keller, in his fifth re-
port, informs us that all the Lake- villages taken together
have not yet produced more than half a dozen. One mature
skull from Meilcn has been described by Professor His, who
considers that it does not differ much from the ordinary
Swiss type. While his work was in the press, Prof. Rutimeyer
received from Col. Schwab four more skulls, two of which •
were obtained at Nidau, one at Sutz, and one at Biel.
LAKE-HABITATIONS OF THE BRONZE AGE.
157
Another skull shown to me by Professor Desor, and found
at Auvernier, completes the number mentioned by Dr. Keller.
All these settlements, however, appear to have belonged to
the Bronze age, nor has it yet been possible certainly to
refer many of the ancient tumuli found in Switzerland to the
earlier period.
Passing now to the Lake-habitations belonging to the
Bronze age, we find that they are less generally distributed
than those of the earlier period. They have as yet been
found only on the Lakes of Geneva, Luissel, Neufchatel,
Morat, Bienne, and Sempach ; none in eastern Switzerland.
It has been supposed from this that the age of Stone
lasted longer in the east than in the west, and that flint
and serpentine were in use on Lake Constance long after
bronze had replaced them on the western lakes. We can,
however, hardly suppose that the inhabitants of Inkwyl and
Moosseedorf in Berne, who imported flint from France, can
have been ignorant of the neighbouring civilisation on the
Lake of Bienne. Perhaps, however, settlements of the
Bronze age may yet be found on the Lake of Constance ;
but as the question now stands, Pileworks of the Metallic
period are peculiar to western and central Switzerland. The
constructions of the latter period are more solidly built, but
do not otherwise appear to have differed materially from
those of the Stone age. They are often, however, situated
farther from the land and in deeper water, partly no doubt
on account of the greater facility of working timber, but
partly also, perhaps, because more protection was needed as
the means of attack were improved. The principal imple-
ments of bronze are swords, daggers, axes, spear-heads,
knives, fish-hooks, sickles, pins, rings and bracelets. The
number of these articles which have been discovered is
already very great, the collection of Col. Schwab alone con-
taining no less than 4346 objects of metal. They are classi-
158
OBJECTS OF BRONZE.
fied in the following table, which I owe to the kindness of
Dr. Keller, and which gives an idea of the relative propor-
tions in which they occur : —
Nidau.
e
to
'C
&
%
Estavayer.
Cortaillod.
Corcelettes.
Auvemier.
Other places.
Total.
Celts and fragments
23
7
6
13
1
6
11
67
Swords
...
...
...
...
...
4
4
Hammers
4
...
1
...
.. .
...
• ••
5
Knives and fragments ...
102
19
14
22
19-
8
9
1:93
Hair-pins
611
53
239
183
237
22
22
1367
Small rings
496
28
115
195
202
14
3
1053
Ear-rings
238
42
36
116
• ••
3
&
440
Bracelets and fragments
55
11
16
21
26
11
2
145
Fish-hooks
189
12
43
71
9
2
1
248
Awls
95
3
49
98
17
•
• • •
262
Spiral wires
...
• ••
46
50
5
...
101
Lance-heads
27
7
...
4
2
5
2
47
Arrow-heads
. . .
...
5
1
...
...
6
Buttons
1
28
10
10
...
49
Needles
20
2
3
4
1
30
Various ornaments
15
5
7
18
3
1
...
49
Saws
3
...
...
...
3
Daggers
...
...
...
...
2
2
Sickles
18
12
1
2
7
l'
4
45
Double-pointed pins
75
• . •
• ••
• . *
.. ,
...
75
Small bracelets
20
...
...
11
. . »
...
31
Sundries
96
3
5
16
...
...
4
124
Total
2004
208
618
835
539
73
69
4346
These objects were all cast, and the skill displayed in
their manufacture, as well as the beauty of their forms and
ornamentation, shows a considerable development of art.
The discovery of a bar of tin at Estavayer, and of a mould for
casting celts at Morges, has proved that some at least of these
objects were made in Switzerland, just as evidence of a similar
nature shows that other countries in Europe, as, for instance,
Denmark, England, Scotland, and Ireland, had also their
own foundries. The similarity of form and ornamentation
appears also to indicate some communication between dif- .
ferent parts of Europe ; but as Cornwall and Saxony are the
USE OF PILEBUILDINGS AS MAGAZINES.
159
only known European sources of tin, the mere presence of
bronze is in itself a sufficient evidence not only of metallur-
gical skill, but also of commerce.
Brought from so great a distance, at a time when the
means of transport were very imperfect, objects of metal
must have had a great value. It is difficult, therefore, to
understand how so many can have been left uncared-for and
forgotten, along the shallow margins of the Swiss lakes.
“II cst Evident,” says Prof. Desor, “ que ce ne sont pas des
rebuts qui se seraient perdus, sans qu’on s’en inquietat. Ils
ne sont pas tombes a l’eau par hasard, non plus que cette
quantite de vases qui sont accumules sur certain points, ni les
jattes a provisions qu’on retire intactes.” On the whole he
is inclined to think that in some of these cases, at least, we
have “ de simples magasins destines aux utensiles et aux
provisions, et qui auraient ete detruits par l’incendie, comme
semble l’indiquer la trace du feu que montrent frequemment
les poutres aussi bien que les vases en terre. On expliquerait
ainsi comment il se fait que les objets en bronze sont presque
tous neufs, que les vases sont entiers et reunis sur un seul
point. Cette hypothese semble corroboree par l’opinion de
plusieurs de nos chercheurs d’antiquites les plus experimentes,
qui pretendent que Ton n’a chance de faire de bonnes trou-
vailles que la ou les pieux sont brides, tandis que Ton perd
son temps a fouiller les stations oil les pieux ne sont pas char-
bonnes.” Col. Schwab also, than whom no man has had
more experience in such matters, is of opinion that com-
paratively little is ever foimd except in such Lake-villages as
show traces of fire. “Wo immer verbranntes IIolz zum
Vorschein komrnt, hat man beim Suchen nach Alterthiimern
auf Ausbeute zu rechnen. Zeigen sich keine Brandspuren, so
ist alle Bemiihung von wenig oder keinem Erfolge begleitet.”
It has also been suggested that the early inhabitants of
Switzerland may have worshipped the Lakes, and that the
160
SACRED LAKES.
beautiful bracelets, etc., may have been offerings to the
gods. In fact, it appears from ancient writers that among
the Gauls, Germans, and other nations, many lakes were
regarded as sacred. M. Aymard (Etude Archmol. sur le Lac
du Bouchet. Le Puy. 1862) has collected several instances of
this kind. According to Cicero,* Justin, f and Strabo, J there
was a lake near Toulouse in which the neighbouring tribes
used to deposit offerings of gold and silver. Tacitus, Pliny,
and Virgil also mention the existence of sacred lakes. Again,
so late as the sixth century, Gregory of Tours, who is quoted
by M. Troyon and M. Aymard, tells us (De glor. confes.
chap, ii.) that on mount Helanus there was a lake which was
the object of popular worship. Every year the inhabitants
of the neighbourhood brought to it offerings of clothes, skins,
cheeses, cakes, etc. Traces of a similar superstition may still
be found lingering in the remote parts of Scotland and Ire-
land; in the former country I have myself seen a sacred
spring surrounded by the offerings of the neighbouring pea-
santry, who seemed to consider pence and halfpence as the
most appropriate and agreeable sacrifice to the spirit of the
waters. This hypothesis would account for the newness
of the objects, few — indeed, according to Professor Desor,
scarcely any — of which present traces of having been used.
Neither the coarse broken pottery, the castaway fragments of
bones, nor the traces of habitations, can, however, be ac-
counted for in this manner. §
The pottery of the Bronze period is more varied and more
skilfully made than that of the Stone age, but the potter’s wheel
does not seem to have been in use. Pings of earthenware
are common, and appear to have been used as supports for
the round-bottomed vases. The ornaments are, according to
M. Troyon, of the same character as those on the objects of
* De Nat. Deor. lib. iii. xxx. + Just, xxxii. iii. J Geog. vol. iv.
§ See also Wylie “ On Lake-dwellings of the Early periods.” Arckceol. vol.
xxxviii., p. 181.
INHABITANTS OF THE PFAHLBAUTEN. 161
bronze. Many of the large urns appear to have been used
as sto replaces for the nuts, etc., which were collected during
the summer for the winter’s use. In the absence, perhaps,
of boxes and cupboards, even ornaments and instruments
seem to have been kept in large jars. Some beautiful brace-
lets were found with several sickles in a jar at Cortaillod.
Pieces of pottery, distorted by fire during the process of
baking, have, according to M. Trovon, been found in many
of the Lake-villages, whence he concludes that the pottery
was manufactured on the spot.
M. Troyon is of opinion that the inhabitants of Switzer-
land during the Bronze age were of a different race from
those who had lived there during the earlier period, and he
agrees with some of the Scandinavian archaeologists in re-
garding them as the true “Celts,” and in attributing to them
the habit of burning their dead. “ I)es que le bronze se
repand en Europe, l’incineration devient d’un usage general.
L’apparition d’un nouveau peuple repond evidemment a eelle
de ce metal. L’urne cineraire, de meme que la tombe cu-
bique, se retrouve sous la surface du sol ou dans le tumulus,
mais celui-ci, generalement rooms eleve que dans l’age pri-
mitif, ne recouvre plus guere de salle funeraire. Quand on
voit combien il est rare que le bronze accompagne le premier
mode d’inhumation, on doit reconnoitre que l’envahisscur est
reste maitre du sol ; du reste il ne pouvait cn etre autrement
de la part d’un peuple possedant des armes en metal, or ces
armes sont celles des anciens Celtes qui n’inhumaient point
leur morts, mais les livraient au flammes du bucher. L’in-
cineration etant une partie integrante de leurs pratiques
religieuses, et l’urne cineraire devenant d’un usage general
avec le bronze, il en resulte que le Celte n’est pas le premier
habitant de l’Europe dans laquelle il a introduit les arts
metallurgiques. ’ ’ It would be very desirable to have some
statistics in order that we might appreciate the value of the
11
162
CHARACTER OF THE OBJECTS
evidence to be derived from these Swiss tumuli. M. Troyon
relies on the fact that many of the Lake-villages were
destroyed by fire, and that when, as appears to have been
the case at several places, they were rebuilt during the
Bronze age, this was done, not exactly on the same spot,
but farther away from the bank. Dr. Keller, on the other
hand, considers that the primitive population did not differ,
either in disposition (anlage), mode of life, or industry,
from that which was acquainted with the use of bronze ; and
that the whole phenomena of the Lake-villages, from their
commencement to their conclusion, indicate most clearly a
gradual and peaceable development. The number of in-
stances in which Lake- villages had been destroyed by fire
has been, he considers, exaggerated. Of the settlements on
the Lakes of Bienne and Neufchatel, amounting in all to
sixty-six, only a quarter have, according to Col. Schwab,
shown any traces of combustion ; a proportion which is,
perhaps, not greater than might have been expected, re-
membering that the huts were built of wood, and in all pro-
bability covered by thatch. Moreover, if these conflagrations
had resulted from the attacks of enemies, we ought surely to
have found numerous remains of the slain, whereas all the
Lake-villages together have as yet only supplied us with the
remains of six human skeletons.
It must, I think, be confessed that the arguments used by
M. Troyon do not justify us in believing with him that the
introduction of bronze was accompanied by an entire change
of population. The construction of Lake-dwellings is a
habit so unusual, that the continuance of similar habitations
during the Bronze age seems to me a strong argument
against any such hypothesis.
The evidence of increasing civilisation is more satisfactory.
During my visit to Switzerland I endeavoured to obtain
statistics as to the objects found in the different Pfahlbauten,
FOUND IN DIFFERENT LAKE- VILLAGES.
163
and so far as six stations are concerned, tlie result is shown
in the following table. If, for instance, we commence with
the remains discovered at the Pont de Thiele, between the
Lakes of Neufchatel and Bienne, the list comprises 17 axes,
20 whetstones, and 97 arrow-heads, flint flakes, chips, etc.>
besides 22 axe-handles and 95 other implements of bone,
making altogether 252 objects of stone and bone. Yet not
only are objects of metal altogether absent, but the other
articles imply an archaic character. There is only one doubt-
ful case of a corncrusher, and not a single spindle-whorl.
Moosseedorf and Wauwvl have produced almost exactly the
same list. Wangen, on the Lake of Constance, is an even
more remarkable case. M. Lohle has found there more than
1100 axes, 100 whetstones, 150 corncrushers, and 260 arrow-
heads, flint flakes, chips, etc. ; altogether more than 1600
instruments and chips of stone, besides about 350 of bone,
making, with 100 earthenware spinning-weights, a grand
total of more than 2000 objects, and yet not a trace of metal.
The number of corncrushers and spindle- whorls is in-
teresting, when we remember that alone among these four
localities, Wan gen has supplied us with specimens of car-
bonised grain, and flax fabrics.
Now let me ask the reader to compare with these four cases
the list of remains from the Bronze age settlements of Morges,
Nidau, Estavayer, Cortaillod and Corcclettes. The manner
in which the collections were made accounts probably for the
absence of whetstones, and, perhaps, to a great extent for
that of the flint flakes, etc. On these points, therefore, I lay
no stress ; but the total absence of stone axes at Morges, and
their rarity at Nidau and Estavayer, is very remarkable. M.
Forel assured me that though he had carefully looked for
them he had never found one. The large number of Corn-
crushers and the presence of spinning-weights are also
significant.
164
STATISTICS,
•m °x
210
2004
208
G18
835
539
§
•saupuns
Some
305
14
150
208
16
•sqooq-qsi^
. . • • O 05 <M CO i-< :
: : : : »-h o »— i t>.
r—i
. . . • l^. IO O r-* O
: : : : co *- < »-h cm cm
•sSnu-jreg;
CO CM ^ O ;
l l l l Ico^cO'-H •
CM f-H
•sSuia
. . . . -Ji <© 00 K5 W cq
: : : : >-i os .-i o o
rH t <M
•SUIJ
57
611
53
239
183
237
•saiqoio;
11
18
12
1
2
7
•saamri
• • • • i— I K N • T? CM
: : : : h n :
•sgatuh
20
102
19
14
22
19
•sexy
• • - • O CO t>. O CO r-4
: : : : io cm r-t
putuo
2060
252
1319
363
p
p
H
y,
o
«
•imox
350
117
510
88
55
p
p
p
p
•0}D ‘SIAHV
350
95
494
86
55
P
p
p
p
•so[piruq-oxy
: CM O CM Cl. • Cl. Cl. Cl. Cl.
1 CM rH I
Pottery.
•SIJOqM ojputds
100
1?
1?
Some.
179
p
p
p
p
•sSmwsf
. . . . c“
I I t ! £ 5 a. a. a.. a..
m
H'
Z
o
H
•pnox
1610
135
808
274
368
p
P
p
p
•sjaqsiuoujoo
150
IP
4
15
Very
many.
335
P
P
P
P
•sauo^s^aqAV
100
20
64
Not
col-
lected.
P
P
P
P
p
P
260
97
639
237
p
p
p
p
p
p
•eaxy
1100
17
101
22
0
33
p
p
p
p
1
Wangen
Pont de Thiele
Moosseedorf ...
Wauwyl
Morges
Nidau
Mcerigen
Estavayer
Cortaillod
Corcelettes
<
regards the objects made of stone, bone, and earthenware, the above statistics were obtained by me during my visit to Switzerland ; for those
of the bronzes found at Merges I am indebted to the kindness of M. Forel ; and for those of the other bronzes, to Dr. Keller. I have
not been able to obtain full lists of the objects in stone, bone, etc., found in the Bronze age settlements.
COMPARISON OF THE DIFFERENT LAKE- VILLAGES. 165
Col. Schwab’s splendid collection from the Steinberg at
Nidau tells the same tale. He has only 33 stone axes, and
yet as many as 335 corncrnshers. The other articles of stone
he has not apparently collected. He has nearly 200 spindle-
whorls, and many earthenware rings, some of which have
also been found at Morges, but which are entirely wanting
at the Pont de Thiele, at Wauwyl, at Moosseedorf, and at
Wangen.
It is, of course, possible that very different states of civi-
lisation may co-exist in different parts of the same country ;
but in this case we must remember that the settlement at the
Pont de Thiele, and the one at Nidau were on the borders of
the same lake, and that Moosseedorf, again, is only about
fifteen miles from Nidau. Nor can we suppose that the
differences were merely a question of wealth ; the bronze
fish-hooks, axes, small rings, pins, etc., which are found in
such large numbers, show that bronze was used not for
articles of luxury only, but also for the ordinary implements
of daily life.
Nor is it only in the presence or absence of bronze that
the Pfahlbauten differ from one another ; there are many
other indications of progress. We cannot expect to find
much evidence of this in the implements of bone or stone ; but,
as has already been mentioned, the better forms of stone axe,
and those which are perforated, are very rare, if not alto-
gether absent in the Stone age, none having been found at
the Pont de Thiele, at Moosseedorf, or at Wauwyl, and only
two at Wangen.
Again, it is not only by the mere presence of bronze, but
by the beauty and variety of the articles made out of it, that
we are so much struck. In a collection of objects made at
any of the Stone age settlements, no one can fail to remark
the uniformity which prevails. The wants of the artificers
seem to have been few and simple. In the Bronze age all
106
COMPARISON OF THE
this is altered. We find not only, as before, axes, arrows?
and knives, but, in addition, swords, lances, sickles, ear-rings,
bracelets, pins, rings, and a variety of other articles. More-
over, it is a very remarkable fact, especially when we con-
sider the great, I might say the immense, number of bronze
celts which are found, that scarcely two of them have been
cast in the same mould.
The pottery tells the same tale. There is no evidence that
the potter’s wheel was known to men of the Stone age, and
the materials of which the Stone age pottery is composed are
very rough,* containing large grains of quartz, while that of
the Bronze age is more carefully prepared. The ornaments
of the two periods show also a great contrast. In the Stone
age they consist of impressions made by the nail or the
finger, and sometimes by a cord twisted round the soft cla)r.
The lines are all straight, or if curved are very irregular and
badly drawn. In the Bronze age all the patterns present in
the Stone age are continued, but in addition we find circles
and spirals ; while imitations of animals and plants are cha-
racteristic of the Iron age.
In the following page is a table abstracted from a larger
one given by Professor Riitimeycr : — 1, represents a single
individual ; 2, several individuals ; 3, denotes the species
which are common ; 4, those which are very common ; and
5, those which are present in great numbers. A glance will
show that wild animals preponderate in the Stone age of
Pfalilbauten at Moosseedorf and Wauwyl, tame ones at the
Bronze age settlement of Nidau.
Thus, then, we see that the distinction between the ages
of Stone and Bronze is by no means confined to the mere
presence of metal. Some may consider that the evidence is
* The extreme coarseness of the Swiss poses ; for the vessels found in tumuli
Lake pottery is, perhaps, owing to its of the Stone age, the material was often
having been intended for kitchen pur- more carefully prepared.
DIFFERENT LAKE-VILLAGES.
167
not yet sufficient to justify any conclusion. Still the
nature and execution of the ornaments — the manufacture
of pottery, the presence of the potter’s wheel, the greater
variety of requirements, evidenced by the greater variety
of implements, the indications of more advanced husbandry,
the diminution of wild animals and the increase of tame
Wauwyl.
Moosseedorf.
Nidau.
Wild Animals.
Brown Beav
2
Badger
2
2
Marten
3
2
Pine Marten
3
2
Polecat
2
2
Wolf
1
Fox
3
3
Wild Cat
2
2
Beaver
2
3
Elk
1
1
1
TJrus
I
Bison
1
Stag
5
5
5
Roe Deer
2
4
AVild Boar
2
' 2
—
—
—
Marsh Boar*
5
5
2
—
—
—
Domestic Animals.
Domestic Boar
? i
3
Horse
2
? i
3
Ox
5
.5
5
Goat
2
2
3
Sheep
1
2
4
Dog
2
2
3
ones — all indicate a higher civilisation for the inhabitants of
Morges and Nidau, than for those of Moosseedorf and
Wauwyl.
Col. Schwab has found at the Steinberg more than twenty
* Considered by Prof. Itiitimeyer to at Nidau and in the later Ffahlbauten.
have been at first wild, but domesticated
168
ABANDONMENT
crescents, made of earthenware, and with the convex side
flattened, to serve as a foot. They are compressed at the
sides, sometimes plain, sometimes ornamented, from eight to
twelve inches from one horn to the other, and from six to
eight inches in height. They are considered by Dr. Keller
to be religious emblems, and are taken as evidence of moon-
worship. He refers to Pliny, xvi. 95 : “ Est autem id
(viscum) rarum admodum inventu et repertum magna re-
lig-ione petitur et ante omnia sexta luna, quae principia
mensium annorumque his facit, et saeculi post tricesimum
annum, quia jam virium abunde habeat nec sit sui dimidia ;
omnia sanantem appellantes suo vocabulo.” This passage he
translates as follows : “ The mistletoe is, however, very rare,
but when it is found it is gathered with great religious cere-
mony, especially on the sixth day of the moon, at which
epoch begin their months, years, and divisions of thirty
years, because it has then sufficient force, and j'et is not in
the middle of its course ; calling it Heal-all in their lan-
guage.” This name has generally been referred to the
mistletoe.* But the Swiss archaeologists consider that this is
a mistake, and that it properly refers to the moon.
The Pileworks of Switzerland appear to have become gra-
dually less numerous. During the Stone age they were
spread over the whole country. Confined, so far as we at
present know, during the Bronze era to the Lakes of Western
Switzerland ; during that of Iron they have as yet been
found only on the Lakes of Bienne and Neufchatel. In
these settlements not only has a neAv substance made its
appearance, but the forms of the implements are different.
We have, indeed, copies of the bronze axes made in iron,
just as we found before that some of the earlier bronze celts
resembled the stone axes in form, but these are exceptional
cases. The swords have larger handles, and are more richly
* See The Celt, Eoman and Saxon, p. 48.
OF THE LAKE-VILLAGES.
169
ornamented ; the knives have straight edges ; the sickles are
larger ; the pottery is more skilfully made and is of the kind
generally known as Roman : the personal ornaments are also
more varied, and glass for the first time makes its appearance.
A field of battle at Tiefenau, near Berne, is remarkable for
the great number of iron weapons and implements which
have been found on it. Pieces of chariots, about a hundred
swords, fragments of coat of mail, lance-heads, rings, fibulae,
ornaments, utensils, pieces of pottery and of glass, accom-
panied by more than thirty Gaulish and Massaliote coins of
a date anterior to our era, enable us to refer this battle-field
to the Roman period. About forty Roman coins have also
been foimd at the small island on the Lake of Bienne.
After this period we find no more evidences of Lake-habi-
tations on a large scale. Here and there, indeed, a few
fishermen may have lingered on the half- destroyed plat-
forms, but the wants and habits of the people^ had changed,
and the age of the Swiss Pileworks was at an end.
We have, however, traced them through the ages of Stone
and Bronze down to the beginning of the Iron period. We
have seen evidences of a gradual progress in civilisation, and
improvement in the arts, an increase in the number of domestic
animals, and proofs at last of the existence of an extended com-
merce. W e found the country inhabited only by rude savages,
and we leave it the seat of a powerful nation. Changes so
important as these are not effected in a day ; the progress of
the human mind is but slow ; and the gradual additions to
human knowledge and power, like the rings in trees, enable
us to form some idea how distant must be the date of their
commencement. So varied, however, are the conditions of
the human mind, so much are all nations affected by the
influence of others, that when we attempt to express our
impressions, so to say, in terms of years, we are baffled by
the complexity of the problem.
170
CHRONOLOGY.
Some attempts have, indeed, been made to obtain a more
definite chronology, and they will be alluded to in a later
chapter. Though we must not conceal from ourselves the
imperfection of the archaeological record, still we need not
despair of eventually obtaining some approximate chrono-
logy. Our knowledge of primitive antiquity has made an
enormous stride in the last ten years, and we may fairly look
forward with hope to the future.
The Swiss archaeologists are continuing their labors, and
they may rest assured that we in England await with interest
the result of their investigations. Few things can be more
interesting than the spectacle of an ancient and long-for-
gotten people thus rising, as it were, to take that place which
properly belongs to it in the history of the human race.
171
CHAPTER YI.
THE DANISH KJOKKENMODDINGS, OR SHELL-MOUNDS.
ENMARK occupies a larger space in the history, than
on the map of Europe ; the nation is greater than
the country. Though, with the growth of physical power
in surrounding populations, she has lost somewhat of her
influence in political councils, and has recently been most
unjustly deprived of a great part of her ancient possessions :
still the Danes of to-day are no unworthy representatives
of their ancestors. Many a larger nation might envy
them the position they hold in science and in art, and few
have contributed more to the progress of human knowledge.
Copenhagen may well be proud both of her museums and of
her professors. I would especially point to the celebrated
Museum of Northern Antiquities, as being most character-
istic and unique.
For the formation of such a collection Denmark offers un-
rivalled opportunities. The whole country appears to have
been, at one time, thickly studded with tumuli : where the
land has not been brought into cultivation, many of them
are often in sight at once, and even in the more fertile and
thickly populated parts, the plough is often diverted from its
course by one of these ancient burial places. Fortunately,
the stones of which they are constructed are so large and so
hard, that their destruction and removal is a laborious and
expensive undertaking. While, however, land grows more
172
SHELL-MOUNDS AT FIRST
valuable, or perhaps when the stones themselves are
coveted for building or other purposes, no conservative tra-
dition, no feeling of reverence for the dead, protects them
from desecration : and it is estimated that not a day passes
without witnessing the destruction of one or more of these
tumuli, and the loss of some perhaps almost irrecoverable
link in the history of the human race.
Almost every barrow, indeed, contains in itself a small
collection of antiquities, and the whole country may even be
considered as a museum on a great scale. The peat bogs,
which occupy so large an area, may almost be said to swarm
with antiquities, and Professor Steenstrup estimates that on
an average every column of peat three feet square contains
some specimen of ancient workmanship. All these advan-
tages and opportunities, however, might have been thrown
away, but for the genius and perseverance of Professor
Thomsen, who may fairly be said to have created the
museum over which he so worthily presides.
In addition to the objects collected from the tumuli
and the peat bogs, and to those which have been found
from time to time scattered at random in the soil, the
Museum of Northern Antiquities contains an immense col-
lection of specimens from some very interesting sliell-mounds,
which are known in Denmark under the name of “ Kjokken-
moddings,” and were long supposed to be raised beaches, like
those which are found at so many points along our own
shores. True raised beaches, however, necessarily contain a
variety of species ; the individuals are of different ages, and
the shells are, of course, mixed with considerable quan-
tity of sand and gravel. But it was observed in the first
instance I believe by Professor Steenstrup, that in these sup-
posed raised beaches, the shells belonged entirely to full
grown, or to nearly full grown, individuals : that they con-
sisted of four species which do not live together, nor require
SUPPOSED TO BE RAISED BEACHES.
173
the same conditions, and would not, therefore, be found
together alone in a natural deposit : and thirdly, that the
stratum contained scarcely any gravel, but consisted almost
entirely of shells.
The discovery of rude flint implements, and of bones still
bearing the marks of knives, confirmed the supposition that
these beds were not natural formations, and it subsequently
became evident that they were, in fact, the site£ of ancient
villages ; the primitive population having lived on the shore
and fed principally on shell-fish, but partly also on the pro-
ceeds of the chase. In many places hearths were discovered
consisting of flat stones, arranged in such a manner as to
form small platforms, and bearing all the marks of fire. The
shells and bones not available for food gradually accumulated
round the tents and huts, until they formed deposits generally
from three to five feet, but sometimes as much as ten feet in
thickness, and in some cases more than three hundred yards
in length, with a breadth of from one hundred to two
hundred feet. The name Kjbkkenmbdding, applied to these
mounds, is derived from Kjdkken, “kitchen,” and modding,
(corresponding to our local word midding), “a refuse heap,”
and it was, of course, evident that a careful examination of
these accumulations would throw much light on the manners
and civilisation of the then population.
Under these circumstances a committee was formed, con-
sisting of Professor Steenstrup, the celebrated author of the
treatise “ On the Alternation of Generations,” Professor
Forchhammer, the father of Danish Geology, and Professor
Worsaae, the well-known archaeologist: a happy combina-
tion, promising the best results to biology, geology, and
archaeology. Much was naturally expected from the labours
of such a triumvirate, and the most sanguine hopes have been
fulfilled. Already more than fifty of the deposits have been
carefully examined, many thousand specimens have been col-
174
DESCRIPTION OF
lected, ticketed, and deposited in the Museum at Copenhagen,
and the general results have been embodied in six Reports
presented to the Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen.*
It is from these reports, and from the excellent Memoir
fc by M. Morlot, that the following information lias prin-
cipally been derived. Being, however, anxious to pre-
sent to my readers a complete and accurate account of
these interesting shell-mounds, I have twice visited Den-
mark ; first in 1861, with Professor Busk, and again in the
summer of 1863. On both these occasions, through the
kindness of Professor Thomsen and Herr K. Herbst every
facility has been afforded me of examining the large collec-
tions made in different Kjokkenmoddings, in addition to
which I had the great advantage of visiting several of the
shell-mounds under the guidance of Professor Steenstrup
himself — one, namely, at Havolse in 1861, and those at
Meilgaard and Fannerup in 1863.
Mr. Busk and I also visited by ourselves one at Bilidt,
on the Isefjord, close to Fredericksund, but this is one of the
places at which it would seem that the inhabitants cooked
their dinners actually on the shore itself, so that the shells
and bones are much mixed up with sand and gravel ; and
we were not very successful in the search for flint imple-
ments. At Havclse, on the contrary, the settlement was on
rather higher ground, and though close to the shore, quite
beyond the reach of the waves ; the shells and bones are
therefore almost unmixed with extraneous substances. At
this place the Kj okkenmbdding is of small extent, and is
in the form of an irregular ring, enclosing a space on
which the ancient dwelling or dwellings probably stood.
In other cases, where the deposit is of greater extent, as
* Untersogelser i geologisk-antiqua- also has published an excellent abstract
risk Rctning af G. Forchhammer, J. of the Reports in the Mem. de la So-
Steenstrup, og J. Worsaae. M. Morlot ciete Vaudoise, T. vi. 1860.
THE SHELL-MOUNDS.
175
for instance in the celebrated shell-mound at Meilgaard,
the surface is undulating, the greater thickness of the
shelly stratum in some places apparently indicating the
arrangement of the dwellings. When the shell-mound
at Havelse was previously visited by Professor Steen-
strup, the shells were being removed to serve as manure,
and the mound, presenting a perpendicular section, was in
a very favourable condition for examination. The small
pit thus formed had, however, been tilled ’ in ; so that we
were obliged to make a fresh excavation. In two or
three hours we obtained about a hundred fragments of
bone, many rude flakes, sling-stones, and flint fragments,
together with nine rude axes of the ordinary “ shell-
mound ” type, several of which, however, were picked up
on the surface.
Our visit to Meilgaard in 1863 was even more success-
ful. This, which is one of the largest and most interesting
shell-mounds hitherto discovered, is situated not far from the
sea-coast, near Grenaa in north-east J utland, in a beautiful
beech forest called “Aigt,” or “ Aglskov,” on the property of
M. Olsen, who with a praiseworthy devotion to science, has
given orders that the Kjokkenmodding should not be de-
stroyed, although the materials of which it consists are well
adapted for the improvement of the soil and for other pur-
poses, to which, indeed, they had already been in part applied
before the true nature of the deposit was discovered. Arriving
at his house without invitation or notice, we were received by
M. Olsen and his family with kindness and hospitality. M.
Olsen immediately sent two workmen to clear away the rub-
bish which had fallen in since the last archaeological visit, so
that when we reached the spot we found a fresh wall of the
shell-mound ready for examination. In the middle, this Kjok-
kenmodding has a thickness of about ten feet, from which,
however, it slopes away in all directions; round the prin-
176
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS.
cipal mound are several smaller ones, of the same nature.
Over the shells a thin layer of mould has formed itself, on
which the trees grow. A good section of such a Kjokken-
modding can hardly fail to strike with astonishment any one
who sees it for the first time, and it is difficult to convey in
words an exact idea of the appearance which it presents. The
whole thickness consists of shells, oysters being- at Meilgaard
by far the most numerous, with here and there a few bones, and
still more rarely stone implements or fragments of pottery.
Excepting just at the top and bottom, the mass is quite
unmixed with sand and gravel ; and, in fact, contains
nothing but what has been, in some way or other, subservient
to the use of man. The only exceptions which I could see
were a few, very few, rough flint pebbles, which were pro-
bably dredged up with the oysters. While we were in this
neighbourhood, we visited another Kjokkenmodding at Fan-
nerup on the Kolindsund, which was even in historical times
an arm of the sea, but is now a freshwater lake. Other
similar deposits have been discovered on the Ivandcrsfjord
and Maria gerfjord in this part of Jutland, nor are the two
settlements at Havelse and Bilidt by any means the only
ones on the Isefjord ; in the neighbourhood of Boeskilde,
Kjokkenmoddings occur near Gjerdrup, at Kattinge, and
Kattinge Yserk, near Trallerup, at Gjershoi, and opposite the
island of Hyldeholme ; besides several farther north, others
have been found on the islands of Fyen, of Moen, and of
Samsoe, and in Jutland along Liimfjord and Horsensfjord,
as well as on the Mariagerfjord, Randersfjord, and Kolind-
sund. The southern parts of Denmark have not yet been
carefully examined. Generally it is evident that deposits of
this nature were scattered here and there over the whole
coast, but that they were never formed inland. The whole
country was more intersected by fjords during the Stone
period even than it is now. Under these circumstances it is
SHELL-MOUNDS IN SCOTLAND.
177
evident that a nation which subsisted principally on marine
mollusca would never form any large inland settlements. In
some instances, indeed, Kjokkenmoddings have been found
as far as eight miles from the present coast, but in these
cases there is good reason for supposing that the land has
encroached on the sea. On the other hand, in those Fio.m.
parts where Kjokkenmoddings do not occur, their
absence is no doubt occasioned by the waves having
to a certain extent eaten away the shore : an explana-
tion which accounts for their being so much more
frequent on the borders of the inland fjords than on
the coast itself ; and which seems to deprive us of
all hope of finding any similar remains on our eastern
and south-eastern shores. Shell-mounds have, how-
ever, actually been found on our coasts. They were
observed by I)r. Gordon, of Birnie, on the shores
of the Moray Firth. I have had the advantage of
visiting these shell-mounds with him. The largest
of the Scotch Kjokkenmoddings is at a place called
Brigzes on Loch Spynie. We did not find any im-
plements or pottery in it, although we searched for
several hours, but a labourer who had been employed
in carting it away for manure had previously found
some fragments of rude pottery and the bronze pin
(fig. 124). Loch Spynie has been partially drained,
and is shut out from the sea by a great accumulation
of shingle, so that the water is now perfectly fresh.
From ancient records it appears that the shingle bar-
rier was probably completed, and the lake shut out
from the sea in the thirteenth and fourteenth cen-
turies. On the other hand, I have submitted the
bronze pin figured here to Mr. Franks, who gives
it as his opinion that it is probably not older than mound.
800 or 900 a.d. If, therefore, it really belongs to the shell-
Bronzo
Pin from
a Scotch
12
178
SHELL-MOUNDS IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
mound, and there seems no reason to doubt the statement of
the man who found it, we thus get an approximate date for
the accumulation of the mound itself. At St. Valery, close
to the mouth of the Somme, Mr. Evans, Mr. Prestwich, and
found a large accumulation of shells, from which I ob-
tained several flint flakes and some pieces of rude pottery.
Mr. Pengelly and Mr. Spence Bate have recently described
some shell-mounds in Cornwall and Devonshire. Similar
remains have been observed by travellers in various parts
of the world, as, for instance, in Australia by Dam pier,*
in Tierra del Fuego by Mr. Darwin, f and in the Malay
Peninsula by Mr. Earle. +
The fact that the majority of the Danish shell-mounds are
found at a height of only a few feet above the sea appears to
prove that there has been no considerable subsidence of the
land since their formation, while on the other hand it clearly
shows that there can have been no elevation. In certain
cases, however, where the shore is steep, they have been
found at a considerable height. It might indeed be sup-
posed that where, as at Bilidt, the materials of the Kjdkken-
modding were rudely interstratified with sand and gravel,
the land must have sunk ; but if for any length of time such
a deposit was subjected to the action of the waves, all traces
of it would be obliterated, and it is therefore probable that
an explanation is rather to be found in the fact that the
action of waves and storms may have been greater at that
time than they are now. At present the tides only affect
the Kattegat to the extent of about a foot and a half, and
the configuration of the land protects it very much from the
action of the winds. On the other hand, the tides on the
west coast of Jutland rise about nine feet, and the winds
have been known to produce differences of level amounting
* Pinkerton’s Travels, vol. ii p. 473. + Journal, p. 234.
X Ethnological Soc. Trans. New Ser. vol. ii., p. 119.
FLORA OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS.
179
to twenty-nine feet ; and as we know that Jutland was
anciently an archipelago, and that the Baltic was more open
to the German Ocean than it is now, we can easily under-
stand that the fluctuations of level may have been greater,
and' we can thus explain how the waves may have risen over
the Kjokkenmbdding at Bilidt (which is after all not much,
more than ten feet above the water), without resorting to
the hypothesis of a subsidence and subsequent elevation of
the coast.
In the Lake-habitations of the Stone age in Switzerland,
grains of wheat and barley, and even pieces of bread, or
rather biscuit, have been found. It does not, however, ap-
pear that the men of the Kjbkkenmoddings had any know-
ledge of agriculture, no traces of grain of any sort having-
been hitherto discovered. The only vegetable remains found
in them have been burnt pieces of wood, and some charred
substance, referred by M. Forchhammer to the Zostera marina,
a sea plant which was, perhaps, used in the production of
salt.
The four species which are the most abundant in the shell -
mounds are —
The oyster, Ostrea edulis, L.
The cockle, Cardium edule, L.
The mussel, Mytilus edulis, L. and
The periwinkle, Littorina littorea, L.
all four of which are still used as food for man. Other
species occur more rarely, namely, —
Nassa reticulata, L.
Buccinum undatum, L.
Venus pullastra, Mont.
Helix nemoralis, Mull.
Venus aurea, Gm.
Trig onella plana, Da. C.
Littorina obtusata, L.
180
FAUNA OF THE SHELI.-MOUNDS.
llcllx strigella, Mull, and
Carocolla lapicida, L.
It is remarkable that the specimens of the first seven
species are well developed, and decidedly larger than any
now found in the neighbourhood. This is especially the case
with the Cardium edule and Littorina littorea, while the oyster
has entirely disappeared, and even in the Kattegat itself
occurs only in a few places.; a result which may, perhaps, be
partly owing to the quantities caught by fishermen. Some
oysters were, however, still living in the Isefjord at the be-
ginning of this century, and their destruction cannot be alto-
gether ascribed to the fishermen, as great numbers of dead
shells are still present ; but in this case it is attributed to the
abundance of starfishes, which are very destructive to oysters.
On the whole, their disappearance, especially when t; ken
in connexion with the dwarf size of the other speci s, is
evidently attributable in a great measure to the smaller
proportion of salt in the water.
Of Crustacea only a few fragments of crabs have hitherto
been found. The remains of vertebrata are very numerous
and extremely interesting. In order to form an idea of the
number of bones, and of the relative proportions belonging
to different animals, Professor Steenstrup dug out from three
different parts of the shell-mound at Havelse square pillars
with sides three feet in length, and carefully collected the
bones therein contained. In the first pillar he found 175
bones of mammals, and 35 of birds ; in the second pillar he
found 121 of mammals and 9 of birds; in the third 309 of
mammals and 10 of birds. The pillars, however, were not
exactly comparable, because their cubic contents depended on
the thickness of the shell-mound at the place where they
were taken, and varied between seventeen and twenty cubic
feet. On the whole, Prof. Steenstrup estimates that there
Trerc from ten to twelve bones in each cubic foot. It will be
FISH. BIRDS. MAMMALS.
181
seen, therefore, that the number of bones is very great.
Indeed, from the mound at Ilavelse alone the Committee ob-
tained in one summer 3500 bones of mammals, and more than
200 of birds, besides many hundred of fishes, which latter,
indeed, are almost innumerable. The most common species
are —
Clupea harengus, L. (the herring)
Gadus callarius, L. (the dorse)
Pleuronedes limanda, L. (the dab) and
31 unmet anguilla, L. (the eel).
The remains of birds are highly interesting and instruc-
tive. The domestic fowl ( Get llus dornesticus) is entirely
absent. The two domestic swallows of Denmark ( Hiruntlu
rustica and H. urbica ), the sparrow and the stork are also
missing. On the other hand, fine specimens of the caper-
cailzie ( Tetrao urogetllus) which feeds principally on the buds
of the pine, show that, as we knew already from the remains
found in the peat, the country was at one time covered with
pine forests. Aquatic birds, however, are the most frequent,
especially several species of ducks and geese. The wild swan
( Cggnus musicus ) which only visits Denmark in winter, is
also frequently found ; but, perhaps, the most interesting of
the birds whose remains have been identified is the Great
Auk (A lea impennis,. L.), a species which is now almost
extinct.
Of mammalia by far the most common arc —
The stag {Cerate elaphus, L.)
The roedeer ( C ervus capreolus, L.) and
The wild boar (Sus scrofa, L.)
Indeed, Professor Steenstrup estimates that these three species
form ninety-seven per cent, of the whole ; the others are —
The urus ( Bos urus, L.)
The dog ( Cants familiaris, L.)
182
MAMMALS.
The fox ( Canis vxdpes, L.)
The wolf ( Canis lupus, L.)
The marten ( Martes sp. uu.)
The otter ( Luira vulgaris, Exl.)
The porpoise (Delphinus phoceena, L.)
The seal ( Phoca sp.)
The ■water rat- ( Hypuclems amphibius, L. and
Ihjpudceus agrestis, L.)
The beaver (Castor fiber, L.)
The lynx (Felis lynx, L.)
The wild cat ( Felis cat us, L.)
The hedgehog ( Erinaceus europceus, L.)
The bear ( TJrsus arctos, L.)
The mouse (Mus Jlavicollis, Mel.)
There are also traces of a smaller species of ox. The Lithu-
anian aurochs ( Bison europa>us) has been found, though rarely,
in the peat bogs, but not yet in the Kjokkenmoddings. The
musk ox (Bubalus mosc-hatus ) and the domestic ox (Bos taurus),
as well as the reindeer, the elk, the hare, the sheep, and the
domestic hog, are all absent.*
Professor Steenstrup docs not believe that the domestic
hog of ancient Europe was directly derived from the wild
boar, but rather that it was introduced from the East ; and
the skulls which he showed me in support of this belief cer-
tainly exhibited very great differences between the two races.
It is extremely unlikely that an animal so powerful and so
intractable as the urns appears to have been, can have been
domesticated by savages, and the condition of the bones
themselves confirms the idea that they belonged to wild ani-
mals. The sheep, the horse, and the reindeer being entirely
absent, and the domestic cat not having been known in
* It. is a curious fact that, as Prof. cate, as a general rule, larger and more
Steenstrup informs me, the bones from powerful animals than those of the
the Kjokkenmoddings of Jutland indi- Islands.
ABSENCE OF CERTAIN BONES.
183
Europe until about the ninth century, the dog'* appears to
have been the only domestic animal of the period ; and
though it may fairly be asked whether the bones may not
have belonged to a race of wild dogs, the question admits of
a satisfactory answer.
Among the remains of birds, the long bones which form
about one-fifth of the skeleton, are, in the Kj okkenmoddings,
about twenty times as numerous as the others, and are almost
always imperfect, the shaft only remaining. In the same
manner it would be impossible to reconstruct a perfect skele-
ton of the quadrupeds, certain bones and parts of bones being
always absent. In the case of the ox, for instance, the -
missing parts are the heads of the long bones (though while
the shaft only of the femur is found, in the humerus one end
is generally perfect), the back bone except the two first
vertebrm, the spinous processes, and often the ribs, and the
bones of the skull except the lower jaw and the portion
round the eyes. It occurred to Prof. Steenstrup that these
curious results might, perhaps, be referred to dogs ; and,
on trying the experiment, he ascertained that the bones
which are absent from the Kj okkenmoddings are precisely
those which dogs eat, and those which are present are the
parts which are hard and solid and do not contain much
nourishment. Prof. Steenstrup has since published a diagram
of a skeleton, tinted in such a manner as to show at a glance
which of the bones occur in the Kj okkenmoddings, and
points out that it coincides exactly with one given by M.
Flourens to illustrate those portions of the skeleton which
were first formed. Although a glance at the longitudinal
section of a long bone, as, for instance, of a femur
and a comparison of the open cancellated tissue of the
two ends with the solid, close, texture of the shaft, at once
* From the marks of knives on the was then, as it is still among several
bones, it seems evident that tbe dog savage tribes, an article of food.
184
MUTILATION OF CERTAIN BONES.
justifies and accounts for the selection made by the dogs, it is
interesting thus to ascertain that their predilections were the
same in primaeval times as at present. Moreover, we may
in this manner explain the prevalence of some bones in fossil
strata. I have already mentioned that of the skull, the hard
parts round the eye and the lower jaw are the only parts
left ; now the preponderance of lower jaws in a fossil state is
well known.
For instance, in the “Proceedings of the Geological Society
for 1857,” p. 277, Dr. Falconer, after describing some of the
fossils found by Mr. Beccles at Swanage, says: — “The curious
fact that only lower jaws should have turned up among the
Stonesfield mammalian remains has often been the subject
of speculation or remark. The same, to a certain extent,
has held good with the remains found in the Purbeck beds.
In these minute creatures, unless the bone be com-
plete, and, supposing it to be a long bone, with both its
articular surfaces perfect, it is almost hopeless, or at any rate
very discouraging, to attempt to make out the creature that
yielded it ; whereas the smallest fragment of a jaw, with a
minute tooth in it, speaks volumes of evidence at the first
glance. This I believe to be one «?eat reason why we hear
so much of jaw remains, and so little of other bones.” No
doubt it is so, but these observations, made by Prof. Steen-
strup, afford a farther explanation of the fact, and it is to be
regretted that the parts of the long bones which are most
important to the palaeontologist are also those which are
preferred by beasts of prey.
In every case, the bones which contained marrow are split
open in the manner best adapted for its extraction : this pecu-
liarity, which is in itself satisfactory proof of the presence
of man, has not yet been observed in bones from the true
tertiary strata.
The Kjokkenmoddings were not mere summer quarters ;
SHELL-MOUND BUILDERS NOT MERE SUMMER VISITORS. 185
the ancient fishermen resided on these spots for at least
two-thirds, if not the whole of the year. This we learn
from an examination of the hones of the wild animals, as it
is often possible to determine, within very narrow limits, the
time of year at which they were killed. For instance, the
remains of the wild swan ( Cygnus musicus ) are very common,
and this bird is only a winter visitor, leaving the Danish
coasts in March, and returning in November. It might
naturally have been hoped that the remains of young birds
would have supplied evidence as to the spring and early
summer, but unfortunately, as has been already explained,
no such bones are to be found. It is, therefore, fortunate
that among the mammalia two periodical phenomena occur ;
namely, the shedding and reproduction of stags’ antlers,
which, with slight variations according to age, have a fixed
season ; and, secondly, the birth and growth of the young.
These, and similar phenomena render it highly probable
that the “mound-builders” resided on the Danish coast all
the year round, though I am disposed to think that, like
the Fuegians, ivho lead, even now, a very similar life, they
frequently moved from spot to spot. This appears to me
to be indicated not only by the condition of the deserted
hearths, but by the color of the flint flakes, etc. ; for while
many of these retain the usual dull bluish black color which
is characteristic of newly-broken flints, and which remains
unaltered as long as they are surrounded by carbonate of
lime, others are whitened, as is usual with those which have
been exposed for any length of time. Perhaps, therefore,
these were lying on the surface during some period of deser-
tion, and covered over only when the place was again inhabited.
The flint implements found in the Kj okkenmoddings re-
semble those which are characteristic of the “ Coastfinds.”
They may be classed as flakes (figs. G2-69) ; “ Shell-mound ”
axes, which, as we have already observed, present a peculiar
186 *
FLINT IMPLEMENTS
form (figs. 79-81, and pi. 1, figs. 8, 9), awls (fig. 125), sling-
Fig. 125.
Awl.
stones or net- weights (pi. 1, fig. 12), and rude lance-heads
Fig. 127.
Lance-heads.
FROM TIIF, SHELL-MOUNDS.
187
(figs. 126-128). With these occur other forms, which, though
very rude, are evidently artificial, such as fig. 129, which
Fio. 129.
Rude Flint Implement.
appears to have been a kind of axe, and others of which the
sharp edges were evidently used for cutting purposes. •
In the two days which we spent at Meilgaard, we found
the following objects : —
“Shell-mound” axes : 19
Flint flakes 139
Bone pins, etc 6
Iloms 6
Pottery, only 4 pieces
Stone hammer 1
Slingstones, about 20
195
Of the three “pillars” of material, just alluded to (p. 180),
the first contained seven flint flakes, two axes, one worked
piece of horn, three worked pieces of bone, and some pottery ;
in the second were sixteen flint flakes, one axe, and seven
slingstones ; in the third, four flint flakes, two flint axes,
and a pointed bone. In short, without appearing to he
richer than other Kjokkenmoddings, Meilgaard and Havclse
have each produced already more than a thousand of these
rude relics, though but a small portion of the mound has
in either case been hitherto removed. We need not, there-
188
MODE OF LIFE INDICATED
fore, wonder at tlie number of axes found in the valley of the
Somme, where so much larger a mass of material has been
examined.
None of the large polished axes have yet been found in
the Kjtikkenmbddings : but a fragment of one, which was
discovered at Ilavelse, and which had been worked up into a
scraper, shows that they were not altogether unknown. A
very few carefully-formed weapons have been found, but the
implements generally are very rude, and of the same types
as those which have been already described as characteristic
of the “ Coastfinds.” Small pieces of very coarse pottery
have also been discovered, and many of the bones from the
Kjokkqnmoddings bear evident marks of a sharp instrument;
several of the pieces found by us were in this condition, and
had been fashioned into rude pins.
The observations of Arctic travellers prove that even if
human bones had been found in the shell-mounds, this
would not of itself be any proof of cannibalism; but the
absence of such remains satisfactorily shows that the
primitive population of the North were free from this
practice. On the other hand, the tumuli have supplied
us with numerous skeletons which probably belong to
the Stone age. The skulls are very round, and in many
respects resemble those of the Lapps, but have a more
projecting ridge over the eye. One curious peculiarity is,
that their front teeth did not overlap as ours do, but met one
another, as do those of the Greenlanders at the present day.
This evidently indicates a peculiar manner of eating.
Much as still remains to be made out respecting the men
of the Stone period, the facts already ascertained, like a few
strokes by a clever draughtsman, supply us -with the elements
of an outline sketch. Carrying our imagination back into
the past, we see before us on the low shores of the Danish
Archipelago a race of small men, with heavy overhanging
BY THE SHELL-MOUNDS. 189
brows, round heads, and faces probably much like those of
the present Laplanders. As they must evidently have had
some protection from the weather, it is most probable that
they lived in tents made of skins. The total absence of metal
in the Kjokkenmoddings proves that they had not yet any
weapons except those made of wood, stone, horn, and bone.
Their principal food must have consisted of shell-fish, but they
were able to catch fish, and often varied their diet by game
caught in hunting. It is, perhaps, not uncharitable to con-
clude that, when their hunters were unusually successful, the
whole Community gorged itself with food, as is the case with
many savage races at the present time. It is evident that
marrow was considered a great delicacy, for every single bone
which contained any was split open in the manner best
adapted to extract the precious morsel.
We have already seen that the mound-builders were
regular settlers and not mere summer visitors, and on the
whole they seem to have lived in very much the same
manner as the Tierra del Fuegians, who dwell on the
coast, feed principally on shell-fish, and have the dog as
their only domestic animal. A very good account of them is
given in Darwin’s Journal (p. 234) from which we extract
the following passages, which give us a vivid and probably
correct idea of what might have been seen on the Danish
shores, long, long ago. “ The inhabitants, living chiefly upon
shell-fish, are obliged constantly to change their place of resi-
dence ; but they return at intervals to the same spots, as is
evident from the pile of old shells, which must often amount
to some tons in weight. These heaps can be distinguished at
a long distance by the bright green colour of certain plants
which invariably grow on them The Fuegian wig-
wam resembles, in size and dimensions, a haycock. It merely
consists of a few broken branches stuck in the ground, and
very imperfectly thatched on one side with a few tufts of
190
THE FUEGIANS.
grass and rushes. The whole cannot he so much as the work
of an hour, and it is only used for a few days At a
subsequent period, the Beagle anchored for a couple of days
under Wollaston Island, which is a short way to the north-
ward. While going on shore, we pulled alongside a canoe
with six Fuegians. These were the most abject and misera-
ble creatures I anywhere beheld. On the east coast, the
natives, as we have seen, have guanaco cloaks, and on the
west, they possess sealskins. Amongst the central tribes the
men generally possess an otter skin, or some small scrap
about as large as a pocket-handkerchief, which is barely
sufficient to cover their backs as low down as their loins. It
is laced across the breast by strings, and according as the
wind blows, it is shifted from side to side. But these
Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and even one full
grown woman was absolutely so. It was raining heavily,
and the fresh water, together with the spray, trickled down
her body. . . . These poor wretches were stunted in
their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint,
their skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled, their
voices discordant, their gestures violent and without dignity.
Viewing such men, one can hardly make oneself believe they
are fellow-creatures and inhabitants of the same world.
At night, five or six human beings, naked, and scarcely pro-
tected from the wind and rain of this tempestuous climate,
sleep on the wet ground coiled up like animals. Whenever
it is low water, they must rise to pick shell-fish from the
rocks ; and the women, winter and summer, either dive to
collect sea eggs, or sit patiently in their canoes and, with a
baited hair line, jerk out small fish; If a seal is killed, or
the floating carcase of a putrid whale discovered, it is a
feast : such miserable food is assisted by a few tasteless
berries and fungi. Nor are they exempt from famine, and,
as a consequence, cannibalism accompanied by parricide.”
THE RELATION OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS TO THE TUMULI. 191
In this latter respect, however, the advantage appears to be
aH on the side of the ancients, whom we have no right to
accuse of cannibalism.
If the absence of cereal remains justifies us, as it appears
to do, in concluding that they had no knowledge of agricul-
ture, they mus't certainly have sometimes suffered from periods
of great scarcity, indications of which may, perhaps, be seen
in the bones of the fox, wolf, and other carnivora, which
would hardly have been eaten from choice ; on the other hand,
they were blessed in the ignorance of spirituous liquors, and
saved thereby from what is at present the greatest scourge of
Northern Europe.
Prof. Worsaae has jiroposed to divide the Stone age into
two divisions, the first of which he again sub-divides. Ilis
classification stands as follows —
The Older Stone Age.
1. The stone implements found in the drift, and in caves
with remains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, hyama, and other
extinct animals.
2. The Kjokkenmoddings and Coastfinds.
The Later Stone Age.
Characterised by the beautifully worked stone implements
and large tumuli.
The shell-mounds and coastfinds, according to Professor
Worsaae, are characterised by very rough flint implements
(fig. 25-129) and are evidently the remains of a much ruder
and more barbarous people than that which constructed
the large Stone age tumuli, and the beautiful weapons, etc.,
found in them. He does not altogether deny that a few well-
worked implements, and fragments of such, have been found
in the Kjokkenmoddings, but he considers that some of these
at least may be altogether more recent than the shell-
192 THE OPINIONS OF STEENSTIIUP AND WORSAAE.
mounds in which they are reported to have been found, and,
at any rate, that their presence is altogether exceptional. At
Meilgaard, for instance, the researches undertaken under the
superintendence of the late king in June, 18G1, produced more
than five hundred flint flakes and other rude implements, but
not a single specimen with a trace of polishing, or in any
way resembling the flint implements found in the tumuli.
On the other hand these rude implements are said to be
wanting in the tumuli, where they are replaced by instru-
ments of a different character and more skilful workmanship.
Moreover, while it is admitted on all hands that the shell-
mound makers had no domestic animal but the dog, and no
knowledge of agriculture, Prof. Worsaae considers that
during the later Stone age, the inhabitants of Denmark cer-
tainly possessed tame cattle and horses, and had in all pro-
bability some knowledge of agriculture.
Prof. Steenstrup is of an entirely different opinion, and
considers that the Kjdkkenmoddings and Stone age tumuli
were contemporaneous. lie denies altogether that remains of
tame oxen or horses have been found in tumuli of the Stone
age, except in very few instances, and in these he maintains
that the fragments which have occurred are evidently not
coeval with the mounds themselves, and that in all probability
they have been introduced by foxes. He admits that the
stone implements from the shell-mounds and coastfinds are
altogether different from, and much ruder than, those from
the tumuli ; he considers the two classes as representing,
not two different degrees, but two different phases of one
single condition of civilisation. The tumuli are the burial
places of chiefs, the Kjdkkenmoddings are the refuse
heaps of fishermen. The first contain all that skill could
contrive, affection offer, or wealth command ; the second
only those things which art could not make available,
which were thrown away as useless, or accidentally lost.
THE FLINT IMPLEMENTS OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS. 193
In order, therefore, to compare these two classes of objects,
we must take, not the ordinary rude specimens which are so
numerous in the shell-mounds, but the few better made im-
plements which, fortunately for science and, for us, were lost
among the oyster- shells, or which had been broken, and
therefore thrown, away. These, though few in number, are,
in Professor Steenstrup’s opinion, quite as numerous as could
have been expected under the circumstances. Moreover, the
long flint flakes, which are so common in the Kjokkenmod-
dings, are sufficient evidence that great skill in the treatment
of flint had already been attained. Indeed, as Professor
Steenstrup well says, these flakes are the result of such a
small number of blows, they are so simple in appearance,
that the art shown in their manufacture has generally been
much underrated. Any one, however, who will try to make
some for himself, while he will probably be very unsuc-
cessful, will at least learn a valuable lesson in the ap-
preciation of flint implements. Some of the flakes found in
the Kjokkenmbddings are equal to any from the Tumuli;
several of those which we found at Meilgaard were more
than five, and one was more than six inches in length, while
I have in my possession a giant flake from Fannerup (figs.
62-64), given to me by Professor Steenstrup,. which has a
length of eight inches and three quarters. As regards the
rude, more or less triangular, “ axes ” which are so charac-
teristic of the Kjokkenmoddings and Coastfinds, Prof. Steen-
strup, as we have already seen, declines to compare them
with the polished axes of the tumuli, because in his opinion
they were not intended for the same purposes. In addition
to the direct evidence derived from the discovery of some
few well-made flint axes of the tumulus type, Professor
Steenstrup relies much on the more indirect evidence de-
rivable from the other contents of the shell-mounds. Thus
the frequent remains of large and full-grown animals, for
13
194
THE SCARCITY OF WELL MADE FLINT
instance of the seal, and the wild ox, are in his opinion
sufficient evidence that the shell-mound builders must have
had weapons more useful and destructive than any which
Prof, Worsaae will concede to them ; moreover, he considers
that many of the cuts which are so common on the bones
found in the shell-heaps must have been made by polished
implements, and are too smooth to be the marks of flint
flakes, according to the suggestion of Professor Worsaae.
Finally, Professor Steenstrup, though not attributing so
much weight as Professor Worsaae to the absence of the
ruder implements from the tumuli, even if this had been
the case, disputes the fact on the ground that these imple-
ments would not until recently have been recognised and
collected, and that they have, in fact, been found whenever
they were looked for.
After having carefully considered the evidence on both
sides, I find myself, as might naturally be expected, unable
altogether to agree with either.
The small rude axes seem to me even less well adapted to the
purpose suggested by Prof. Steenstrup, than for those which
have generally been attributed to them. There are, no doubt,
some which could never have been used for cutting, but these
may have been failures, owing to some want of skill on the
part of the manufacturer, or some flaw in the flint itself.
Others appear to me, as to Prof. Worsaae, serviceable, though
rude ; and well adapted for some purpose (possibly for oyster
dredging or chopping wood), which required a strong, rather
than a sharp edge. They also very closely resemble in
form some of the adzes used by the South Sea Islanders,
one of which is figured for comparison (see pp. 72, 73).
They seem to me, however, as to Prof. Steenstrup, to differ
in character from the well-made and generally polished
axes, and not to be ruder implements of the same type.
Although the carefully formed knives, axes, lance-heads, etc.,
IMPLEMENTS IN THE SHELL-MOUNDS.
195
would not be likely to abound in the Kjokkenmoddings, any
more than works of art, or objects of value in modern dust-
heaps ; still I confess I should have expected that fragments
of these instruments, recognisable to us, though useless to
their original owners, would have been more numerous than,
in reality, they appear to be.
In addition to the five hundred rude implements, described
by Prof. Worsaae, as having been found at Meilgaard during
the king’s visit, I myself obtained a hundred and forty flint
flakes, with about fifty other implements, in the visit to
this celebrated locality which I made last year under the
guidance of Prof. Steenstrup. To these, again, must be
added many which had previously been collected by M.
Olsen, and the members of the Kjokkenmodding committee;
and yet among so large a number of instruments of various
kinds there is only one which in any respect resembles the
well-worked implements of the tumuli. So, again, at Havelse
only a single fragment of a polished axe has been found
among more than a thousand objects of the ruder kind. It
might, however, fairly be urged that in such a comparison,
neither the flakes nor “slings tones” ought to be brought into
consideration ; in this case, and if we were to count the axes
only, the numbers would be immensely diminished.
There is also much weight in Prof. Steenstrup’s argument
derived from the flint flakes, and he has not at all exaggerated
the skill shown in their manufacture. Their edges, how-
ever, are so sharp that it would, I cannot help thinking,
be very difficult to distinguish a cut produced by a flake,
from one made by a ground axe. On the other hand, the
alleged absence of rude implements in the Stone age bar-
rows has been satisfactorily explained by Professor Steen-
strup. In this country it might be argued from the re-
searches of so intelligent an antiquary as Sir R. Colt Hoare,
that rude implements were never, or very rarely, found in
196
ANTIQUITY OF THE
tumuli, but the more recent researches of Mr. Bateman have
shown that this is very far from being the case, and have
made it evident that the ruder implements of stone must
have been overlooked by the earlier archaeologists. In the
tumuli examined by Mr. Bateman, he obtained many flint
flakes, etc., quite as rude as those which are found in the
shell-mounds. I am not aware, however, that any of the
small triangular axes, which are so characteristic of the
shell-mounds, have yet been met with in the tumuli. Nor,
on the other hand, have any forms resembling those which
are characteristic of the Pala3olithic age, yet been found in
the shell-mounds.
Finally, as regards the supposed remains of domestic
animals (other than the dog) in Stone age tumuli, the
evidence brought forward by Professor Worsaae seems to
me altogether inconclusive, which, however, is of the less
consequence, as the point will certainly be determined
ere long, now that attention has specially been directed
to it.
On the whole, the evidence appears to show that the
Danish shell-mounds represent a definite period in the his-
tory of that country, and are probably referrible to the early
part of the Neolithic Stone age, when the art of polishing-
flint implements was known, but before it had reached its
greatest development.
It is, as yet, impossible to affix a date in years to the
formation of the Kj okkenmoddings, which nevertheless are,
as evidently, of immense antiquity. We know that the
country has long been covered by beech forests, and yet it
appears that during the Bronze age beeches were absent,
or only represented by stragglers, while the whole country
was covered with oaks. This change implies a great lapse
of time, even if we suppose that but a few generations of
oaks succeeded one another. We know also that the oaks
SHELL-MOUNDS.
197
had been preceded by pines, and that the country was in-
habited even then.
Again, the immense number of objects belonging to the
Bronze age which have been found in Denmark from time
to time, and the great number of burial places, appear to
justify the Danish Archaeologists in assigning to this period
a very great lapse of time. The same arguments apply with
even more strength to the remains of the Stone period, as a
country, the inhabitants of which live by hunting and fishing,
can never be thickly populated ; and, on the whole, the con-
clusion is forced upon us, that the country must have been
inhabited for a very long period, although none of the Danish
remains belong to a time as ancient as some of those which
have been found in other parts of Europe, and which will be
described in subsequent chapters.
198
CHAPTER VII.
NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY.
OUR knowledge of North American Archaeology is derived
mainly from four excellent memoirs published under
the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution: — 1. Ancient
Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, comprising the Results
of extensive Original Surveys and Explorations ; by E. G.
Squier, A.M., and E. H. Davis, M.D. 2. Aboriginal Monu-
ments of the State of New York, comprising the Results
of Original Surveys and Explorations, with an illustrative
Appendix ; by E. G. Squier, A.M. 3. The Antiquities of
Wisconsin, as surveyed and described by J. A. Lapliam.
4. The Archaeology of the United States, or Sketches, His-
torical and Biographical, of the Progress of Information and
Opinion respecting Vestiges of Antiquity in the United
States ; by Samuel F. Haven. There are, indeed, several
other memoirs which we ought perhaps to have added to our
list, especially one by Mr. Caleb Atwater, who, according to
Messrs. Squier and Davis, “deserves the credit of being the
pioneer in this department.” His researches form the first
volume of the Archaeologia Americana, which was published
in 1819, and contains plans and descriptions of many ancient
works. Nor must we omit to mention Schoolcraft’s “ History,
Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United
States.”
The memoir by Messrs. Squier and Davis, occupying more,
than three hundred pages, is chiefly descriptive of ancient
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
199
fortifications, enclosures, temples and mounds, and of the
different implements, ornaments, etc., which have been ob-
tained from them. It is embellished with forty-eight plates,
and no less than two hundred and seven woodcuts.
In his second work, Mr. Squier confines himself to the
antiquities of the State of New York. Within these limits,
however, he describes many ancient monuments of various
kinds, and he feels “warranted in estimating the number
which originally existed in the State at from two hundred
to two hundred and fifty.” He comes to the conclusion,
“little anticipated,” he says, “when I started on my trip of
exploration, that the earthworks of Western New York were
erected by the Iroquois, or their western neighbours, and do
not possess an antiquity going very far back of the discovery.”
{sic.)
The systematic exploration of the ancient remains in Wis-
consin, of which the memoir by Mr. Lapham is the result,
was undertaken by him on behalf of the American Anti-
quarian Society, by which the necessary funds were provided.
The cost of the publishing, however, which from the great
number of engravings (fifty-five plates, besides sixty-one
wood engravings) was considerable, was defrayed by the
Smithsonian Institution, and the work is included in the
seventh volume of “Contributions.”
Mr. Haven’s work is well described in the title, and forms
an interesting introduction to the study of North American
Archaeology. lie gives us comparatively few observations or
opinions of his own ; but after a careful examination of what
others have written, he comes to the conclusion that the
ancient earthworks of the United States “differ less in kind
than in degree from other remains concerning which history
has not been entirely silent. They are more numerous, more
concentrated, and in some particulars on a larger scale of
labour, than the works which approach them on their several
200
IMPLEMENTS.
borders, and with whose various characters they are blended.
Their numbers may be the result of frequent changes of
residence by a comparatively limited population, in accordance
with a superstitious trait of the Indian nature, leading to the
abandonment of places where any great calamity has been
suffered ; but they appear rather to indicate a country thickly
inhabited for a period long enough to admit of the progressive
enlargement and extension of its movements.”
Although more especially devoted to the present condition
and habits of the Indian tribes, still, as constituting their
history, Schoolcraft gives us much archaeological information,
and we shall have occasion frequently to quote from his work.
The antiquities themselves fall into two great divisions :
Implements (including ornaments) and Earthworks. The
earthworks have been again divided by the American Archae-
ologists into seven classes: — 1. Defensive enclosures; 2.
Sacred and miscellaneous enclosures ; 3. Sepulchral mounds ;
4. Sacrificial mounds; 5. Temple mounds; 6. “Animal”
mounds ; and 7. Miscellaneous mounds. These classes we
shall treat separately, and we can then better consider the
“mound-builders” themselves.
IMPLEMENTS.
The simple weapons of bone and stone which are found in
America closely resemble those which occur in other coun-
tries. The flakes, hatchets, axes, arrow-heads, and bone
implements are, for instance, very similar to those which
occur in the Swiss Lakes, if only we make allowance for the
differences of material. In addition to the simple forms,
which may almost be said to be ubiquitous, there are some,
however, which are more complicated. In many cases they
are perforated, as for instance those figured by Messrs. Squier
and Davis (l.c. p. 218). The perforated axes found in Europe
THE USE OF COPPER.
201
are generally considered to belong to the metallic age ; but
as far as America is concerned, we have not yet any evidence
as to tbe relative antiquity of tbe perforated and imperforate
types.
At tbe time of tbe discovery of America, iron was abso-
lutely unknown to tbe natives, witb the exception, perhaps,
of a tribe near the mouth of tbe La Plata, who bad arrows
tipped witb this metal, which they are supposed to have ob-
tained from masses of native iron. Tbe powerful nations of
Central America were, however, in the age of Bronze, while
the North Americans were in a condition of which we find
in Europe but scanty traces — namely, in an age of Copper.
Silver is the only other metal which has been found in the
ancient tumuli, and that but in very small quantities. It
occurs sparingly in a native form with the copper of Lake
Superior, whence, in all probability, it was derived. It does
not appear to have been ever smelted. From the large quan-
tity of galena which is found in the mounds, Messrs. Squier
and Davis are disposed to think that lead must have been
used to a certain extent by the North American tribes : the
metal itself, however, has not, I believe, yet been found.
Copper, on the other hand, occurs frequently in the tu-
muli, both wrought and unwrought. The axes have a
striking resemblance to those simple axes of Europe, which
contain the minimum quantity of tin ; and some of the
Mexican paintings give us interesting evidence as to the
manner in which they were handled and used. These, how-
ever, were of bronze, and had, therefore, been fused ; but
the Indian axes, which are of pure copper, appear in all
cases to have been worked in a cold state, which is the more
remarkable, because, as Messrs. Squier and Davis have well
observed, “ the fires upon the altar were sufficiently intense to
melt down the copper implements and ornaments deposited
upon them. The hint thus afforded does not seem to have
202
TRACES OF ANCIENT
been seized upon.”* This is the more surprising, because as
Schoolcraft f tells us “in almost all the works lately opened,
there are heaps of coals and ashes, showing that fire had
much to do with their operations.” Thus, though they were
acquainted with metal, they did not know how to use it ; and
as Professor Dana has well observed in a letter with which
he favored me, they may in one sense be said to have been in
an age of stone, since they used the copper, not as metal, but
as stone. This intermediate condition between an age of
stone and one of metal is most interesting.
In the neighbourhood of Lake Superior, and in some other
still more northern localities, copper is found native in large
quantities, and the Indians had therefore nothing to do but
to break off pieces and hammer them into the required
shape. Hearne’s celebrated journey to the mouth of the
Coppermine Diver, under the auspices of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, was undertaken in order to examine the locality
whence the natives of that district obtained the metal. In
this case it occurred in lumps actually on the surface, and the
Indians seem to have picked up what they could, without
attempting anything that could be called mining. Round
Lake Superior, however, the case is very different. A short
account of the ancient coppermines is given by Messrs.
Squier and Davis in the work already so often cited, by Mr.
Squier in “ The Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New
lork,” by Mr. Lapham,^ and by Mr. Schoolcraft, § while the
same subject is treated at considerable length by Professor
M ilson. The works appear to have been first discovered in
184/ by the agent of the Minnesota Mining Company.
“Following up the indications of a continuous depression
m the soil, he came at length to a cavern where he found
* One “ cast ” copper axe is however recorded as having been found in the State
of New York, but there is no evidence to show by whom it was made.
t Indian Tribes, p. 97. + l.c. p. 74. § l.c. p. 95.
COPPER MINES.
203
several porcupines had fixed their quarters for hybernation ;
but detecting evidences of artificial excavation, he proceeded
to clear out the accumulated soil, and not only exposed to
view a vein of copper, hut found in the rubbish numerous
stone maids and hammers of the ancieut workmen. Sub-
sequent observations brought to light ancient excavations of
great extent, frequently from twenty-five to thirty feet deep,
and scattered over an area of several miles. The rubbish
taken from these is piled up in mounds alongside ; while the
trenches have been gradually refilled with the soil and decay-
ing vegetable-matter gathered through the long centuries
since their desertion ; and over all, the giants of the forest
have grown, and withered, and fallen to decay. Mr. Knapp,
the agent of the Minnesota Mining Company, counted three
hundred and ninety-five annular rings on a hemlock -tree,
which grew on one of the mounds of earth thrown out of an
ancient mine. Mr. Foster also notes the great size and age
of a pine stump, which must have grown, flourished and died
since the works were deserted ; and Mr. C. Whitteslcy not
only refers to living trees now flourishing in the gathered
soil of the abandoned trenches, upwards of three hundred
years old, but adds, £On the same spot there are the de-
cayed trunks of a preceding generation or generations of
trees that have arrived at maturity, and fallen down from old
age.’ According to the same writer, in a communication
made to the American Association, at the Montreal meeting
in 1857, these ancient works extend over a track from 100
to 150 miles in length, along the southern shore of the
lake.”
In another excavation was found a detached mass of native
copper, weighing upwards of six tons. It rested on an
artificial cradle of black oak, partly preserved by immersion
in water. Various implements and tools of the same metal
were found with it. The commonest of these are the stone
204
POTTERY.
mauls or hammers, of which from one place ten cart-loads
were obtained. With these were “ stone axes of large size,
made of greenstone, and shaped to receive withe-handles.
Some large round greenstone masses, that had apparently
been used for sledges, were also found. They had round
holes bored in them to a depth of several inches, which
seemed to have been designed for wooden plugs, to which
withe-handles might be attached, so that several men could
swing them with sufficient force to break the rock and the
projecting masses of copper. Some of them were broken,
and some of the projecting ends of rock exhibited marks of
having been battered in the manner here suggested.” *
Wooden implements are so perishable that we could not
expect many of them to have been found. Two or three
wooden howls, a trough, and some shovels with long handles,
are all that appear to be recorded.
It has often been stated that the Indians possessed some
method, at present unknown, by which they were enabled to
harden the copper. This, however, from examinations insti-
tuted by Professor Wilson, seems to be an error. Some
copper implements, which he submitted to Professor Crofts,
were found to be no harder than the native copper from
Lake Superior. “ The structure of the metal was also highly
laminated, as if the instrument had been brought to its
present shape by hammering out a solid mass of copper.”
POTTERY,
Before the introduction of metallic vessels, the art of the
potter was more important even than it is at present. Ac-
cordingly, the sites of all ancient habitations are generally
marked by numerous fragments of pottery : this is as true
of the ancient Indian settlements, as of the Celtic towns of
* Prof. W, W. Matter in a letter to Mr. Squier, l.c. p. 184.
POTTERY.
205
England, or the Lake- villages of Switzerland. These frag-
ments, however, would generally be those of rude household
vessels, and it is principally from the tumuli that we obtain
those better-made urns and cups from which the state of the
art may fairly he inferred. Yet I know of no British sepul-
chral urn, belonging to ante-Roman times, which has upon
it a curved line. It is unnecessary to add that representa-
tions of animals or plants are entirely wanting. They are
also absent from all articles belonging to the Bronze age in
Switzerland, and I might almost say in Western Europe
generally, while ornaments of curved and spiral lines are
eminently characteristic of this period. The ornamental
ideas of the Stone age, on the other hand, are confined, so far
as we know, to compositions of straight lines, and the idea of
a curve does not seem to have occurred to them. The most
elegant ornaments on their vases are impressions of the
finger-nail, or of a cord wound round the soft clay.
Dr. Wilson has well pointed out, that, as regards Europe,
“ in no single case is any attempt made to imitate leaf or
flower, bird, beast, or any simple natural object ; and when,
in the bronze work of the later Iron period, imitative forms
at length appear, they are chiefly the snake and dragon
shapes and patterns, borrowed seemingly by Celtic and Teu-
tonic wanderers, with the wild fancies of their mythology,
from the far Eastern cradle-land of their birth.” Very
different was the condition of American Art.
“ The art of pottery attained to a considerable degree of
perfection.” Some of the vases found in the tumuli are said
to rival, “ in elegance of model, delicacy, and finish,” the
best Peruvian specimens. The material used is a fine clay :
in the more delicate specimens, pure ; in the coarser ones,
mixed with pounded quartz. The art of glazing and the use
of the potter’s wheel appear not to have been known, though
that “ simple approximation to a potter’s wheel may have
206
ORNAMENTS.
existed,” which consists of “ a stick of wood grasped in the
hand by the middle, and turned round inside a wall of clay
formed by the other hand or by another workman.” *
Among the most characteristic specimens of ancient
American pottery are the Pipes. Some of these are simple
bowls, smaller indeed, but otherwise not unlike a common
everyday pipe, from which they differ however in having
generally no stem, the mouth having apparently been applied
direct to the howl. Others are highly ornamented, and
many are spirited representations of monsters or tof animals,
such as the heaver, otter, wild cat, elk, bear, wolf, panther,
raccoon, opossum, squirrel, manatee, eagle, hawk, heron, owl,
buzzard, raven, swallow, parroquet, duck, grouse, and many
others. The most interesting of these, perhaps, is the
Manatee or Lamantin, of which seven representations have
been found in the mounds of Ohio. These are no mere rude
sculptures, about which there might easily be a mistake, but
“ the truncated head, thick semicircular snout, peculiar nos-
trils, tumid, furrowed upper lip, singular feet or fins, and
remarkable moustaches, are all distinctly marked, and render
the recognition of the animal complete.”f This curious
animal is not at present found farther than the shores of
Florida, a thousand miles away.
ORNAMENTS.
The ornaments which have been found in the mounds
consist of beads, shells, necklaces, pendants, plates of mica,
bracelets, gorgets, etc. The number of beads is some-
times quite surprising. Thus the celebrated Grave Creek
mound contained between three and four thousand shell-
beads, besides about two hundred and fifty ornaments of
mica, several bracelets of copper, and various articles carved
* Squier and Davis, l.c. p. 195.
f Squier and Davis, l.c. p. 252.
EARTHWORKS.
207
in stone. The beads are generally made of shell, but are
sometimes cut out of bone or teeth ; in form they are gene-
rally round or oblong; sometimes the shell of the Unio is
cut and strung so as to “exhibit the convex surface and
pearly nacre of the shell.” The necklaces are often made of
beads or shells, but sometimes of teeth. The ornaments of
mica are thin plates of various forms, each of which has a
small hole. The bracelets are of copper, and generally en-
circle the arms of the skeletons, besides being frequent on
the “altars.” They are simple rings “hammered out with
more or less skill, and so bent that the ends approach, or lap
over, each other.” The so-called “gorgets” are thin plates
of copper, always with two holes, and probably therefore
worn as badges of authority.
EARTHWORKS.
The Earthworks are most abundant in the central parts
of the United States. They decrease in number as we ap-
proach the Atlantic, and are very scarce in British America
and on the west of the Rocky Mountains.
Defensive Enclosures.
The works belonging to this class “ usually occupy
strong natural positions,” and as a fair specimen of them we
may take the Boumeville Enclosure in Ross County, Ohio.
“This work,” say Messrs. Squier and Davis ( l.c . p. 11),
“occupies the summit of a lofty detached hill, twelve miles
westward from the city of Chillicothe, near the village of
Bourneville. The hill is not far from four hundred feet in
perpendicular height ; and is remarkable, even among the
steep hills of the west, for the general abruptness of its sides,
which at some points are absolutely inaccessible.” .... The
defences consist of a wall of stone, which is carried round the
208
DEFENSIVE ENCLOSURES.
hill a little below the brow ; but at some places it rises, so
as to cut off the narrow spurs, and extends across the neck
that connects the hill with the range beyond.” It must not,
however, be understood that anything like a true wall now
exists ; the present appearance is rather what might have
been “expected from the falling outwards of a wall of stones,
placed, as this was, upon the declivity of a hill.” Where it
is most distinct it is from fifteen to twenty feet wide, by
three or four in height. The area thus enclosed is about
one hundred and forty acres, and the wall is two miles and a
quarter in length. The stones themselves vary much in size,
and Messrs. Squier and Davis suggest that the wall may
originally have been about eight feet high, with an equal
base. At present, trees of the largest size are growing upon
it. On a similar work, known as “Fort Hill,” Highland
County, Ohio, Messrs. Squier and Davis found a splendid
chestnut tree, which they suppose to be six hundred
years old. “If,” they say, “ to this we add the probable
period intervening from the time of the building of this
work to its abandonment, and the subsequent period up to
its invasion by the forest, we are led irresistibly to the con-
clusion that it has an antiquity of at least one thousand years.
But when we notice, all around us, the crumbling trunks of
trees, half hidden in the accumulating soil, we are induced to
fix on an antiquity still more remote.”
The enclosure known as “Clark’s Work,” in Boss County,
Ohio, is one of the largest and most interesting. It consists
of a parallelogram, two thousand eight hundred feet by
eighteen hundred, and enclosing about one hundred and
eleven acres. To the right of this, the principal work is a
perfect square, containing an area of about sixteen acres.
Each side is eight hundred and fifty feet in length, and in
the middle of each is a gateway thirty feet wide, covered
by a small mound. Within the area of the great work are
SACRED AND MISCELLANEOUS ENCLOSURES.
209
several smaller mounds and enclosures ; and it is estimated
tliat not less than three millions of cubic feet of earth were
used in this great undertaking. It has also been observed
that water is almost invariably found within, or close to
these enclosures.
Sacred and Miscellaneous Enclosures.
If the purpose for which the works belonging to the first
class were erected is very evident, the same cannot be said
for those which we have now to mention. That they were
not intended for defence is inferred by Messrs. Squier and
Davis from their small size, from the ditch being inside the
embankment, and from their position, which is often com-
pletely commanded by neighbouring heights.
Dr. Wilson also (vol. i. p. 324) follows Sir R. C. Iloare in
considering the position of the ditch as being a distinguishing
mark between military and religious works. But Catlin ex-
1/ o
pressly tells us that in the Mandan village which he describes,
the ditch was on the inner side of the embankment, and the
warriors were thus sheltered while they shot their arrows
through the stockade. We see, therefore, that, in America
at least, this is no reliable guide.
While, however, the defensive earthworks occupy hill
tops, and other situations most easy to defend, the so-called*
sacred enclosures are generally found on “ the broad and
level river bottoms, seldom occurring upon the table-lands or
where the surface of the ground is undulating or broken.”
They are usually square or circular in form ; a circular being
often combined with one or two squares. “ Occasionally we
find them isolated, but more frequently in groups. The
greater number of the circles are of small size, with a nearly '
uniform diameter of two hundred and fifty or three hundred
feet, and invariably have the ditch interior to the wall.”
14
210
EARTHWORKS IN THE SCIOTO VALLEY.
Some of tlie circles, however, are much larger, enclosing fifty
acres or more. The squares or other rectangular works
never have a ditch, and the earth of which they are com-
posed appears to have been taken up evenly from the sur-
face, or from large pits in the neighbourhood. They vary
much in size ; five or six of them, however, are “ exact
squares, each side measuring one thousand and eighty feet —
a coincidence which could not possibly be accidental, and
which must possess some significance.” The circles also, in
spite of their great size, are perfectly round, so that the
American archaeologists consider themselves justified in con-
cluding that the mound-builders must have had some stan-
dard of measurement, and some means of determining angles.
The most remarkable group is that near Newark, in the
Scioto Talley, which covers an area of four square miles ! A
plan of these gigantic works is given by Messrs. Squier and
Davis, and another, from a later survey, by Mr. Wilson.
They consist of an octagon, with an area of fifty, a square
occupying twenty acres, and two large circles occupying re-
spectively thirty and twenty acres. From the octagon an
avenue formed by parallel walls extends southwards for two
miles and a half ; there are two other avenues which are
rather more than a mile in length, one of them connecting
the octagon with the square.
Besides these, there are various other embankments and
small circles, the greater number about eighty feet in
diameter, but some few much larger. The walls of these
small circles, as well as those of the avenues and of the
irregular portions of the works generally, are very slight,
and for the most part about four feet in height. The other
embankments are much more considerable ; the walls of the
large circle arc even now twelve feet high, with a base of
fifty feet, and an interior ditch seven feet deep and thirty-
five in width. At the gateway, however, they are still more
EARTHWORKS AT CIRCLEVILLE.
211
imposing ; the walls being sixteen feet high, and the ditch
thirteen feet deep. The whole area is covered with “gigantic
trees of a primitive forest ; ” and, say Messrs. Squier and
Davis, “in entering the ancient avenue for the first time,
the visitor does not fail to experience a sensation of awe,
such as he might feel in passing the portals of an Egyptian
temple, or in gazing upon the silent ruins of Petra of the
desert.”
The city of Circleville takes its name from one of these
embankments, which, however, is no more remarkable than
many others. It consists of a square and a circle, touching
one another ; the sides of the square being about nine hun-
dred feet in length, and the circle a little more than a
thousand feet in diameter. The square had eight doorways,
one at each angle, and one in the middle of each side, every
doorway being protected by a mound. The circle was peculiar
in having a double embankment. This work, alas ! has been
entirely destroyed ; and many others have also disappeared,
or are being gradually obliterated by the plough. Under
these circumstances, we read with pleasure that “ The Direc-
tors of the Ohio Land Company, when they took possession
of the country at the mouth of the Muskingum River in
1788, adopted immediate measures for the preservation of
these monuments. To their credit be it said, one of their
earliest official acts was the passage of a resolution, which is
entered upon the Journal of their proceedings, reserving the
two truncated pyramids and the great mound, with a few
acres attached to each, as public squares.” Such enlightened
conduct deserves the thanks of archaxdogists, and I sin-
cerely hope that the Company has prospered.
Both as being the only example of an enclosure yet ob-
served in Wisconsin, and also as having in many respects a
great resemblance to a fortified town, the ruins of Aztalan
are well worthy of attention. They are situated on the west
212
AZTALAN.
branch of Rock River, and were discovered in 1836 by N. F.
Ilyer, Esq., who surveyed them hastily, and published a
brief description, with a figure, in the “ Milwaukie Adver-
tiser.” In “SiHiman’s American Journal,” No. XLIY., is a
paper on the subject by Mr. Taylor, from which was derived
the plan and the short account given by Messrs. Squier
and Davis.* The most complete description is contained in
Mr. Lapham’s “ Antiquities of Wisconsin” f The name
“ Aztalan” was given to this place by Mr. liver, because the
Aztecs had a tradition that they originally came from a
country to the north, which they called Aztalan. It is said
to be derived from two Mexican words, Atl, water, and An,
near. “ The main feature of these works is an enclosure of
earth (not brick, as has been erroneously stated), extending
around three sides of an irregular parallelogram ; ” the river
“ forming the fourth side on the east. The space thus en-
closed contains seventeen acres and two-thirds. The corners
are not rectangular, and the embankment or ridge is not
straight.” “ The ridge forming the enclosure is 631 feet
long at the north end, 1419 feet long on the west side, and
700 feet on the south side ; making a total length of wall of
2750 feet. The ridge or wall is about 22 feet wide, and
from one foot to five in height. The wall of earth is en-
larged on the outside, at nearly regular distances, by mounds
of the same material. They are called buttresses, or bas-
tions ; but it is quite clear that they were never intended for
either” the one or the other. They vary from sixty-one
to ninety-five feet apart, the mean distance being eighty-two
feet. Near the south-west angle are two outworks, con-
structed in the same way as the main embankment.
In many places the earth forming the walls appears to
have been burnt. “ Irregular masses of hard reddish clay,
full of cavities, bear distinct impressions of straw, or rather
* he. p. 131.
t P.41.
AZTALAN.
213
wild hay, witli which, they had been mixed before burning.”
“ This is the only foimdation for calling these ‘ brick walls.’
The * bricks ’ were never made into any regular form, and it
is even doubtful whether the burning did not take place in
the wall after it was built.” * Some of the mounds, or but-
tresses, though forming part- of an enclosure, were also used
for sepulchral purposes, as was proved by their containing
skeletons in a sitting posture, with fragments of pottery.
The highest point inside the enclosure is at the south-west
comer, and is “ occupied by a square truncated mound,
which .... presents the appearance of a pyramid, rising
by successive steps like the gigantic structures of Mexico.”
“At the north-west angle of the enclosure is another rectan-
gidar, truncated, pyramidal elevation, of sixty-five feet level
area at the top, with remains of its graded way, or sloping
ascent, at the south-west corner, leading also towards a ridge
that extends in the direction of the river.”
Within the enclosure are some ridges about two feet high,
and connected with them are several rings, or circles, which
are supposed to be the remains of mud houses. “Nearly the
whole interior of the inclosure appears to have been either
excavated or thrown up into mounds and ridges ; the pits
and irregular excavations being quite numerous over much
of the space not occupied by mounds.” These excavations
and ridges are, in all probability, the ruins of houses. Some
years ago a skeleton was found in one of the mounds, wrapped
apparently in cloth of open texture, “ like the coarsest linen
fabric ;” but the threads were so entirely rotten, as to make
it quite uncertain of what material they were made.
The last Indian occupants of this interesting locality had
no tradition as to the history or the purpose of these earth-
works.
* These walls must present some faint resemblance to the celebrated vitrified
forts of Scotland.
214
MODERN EARTHWORKS.
Among the Northern tribes of existing Indians there do
not appear to be any earthworks corresponding to these so-
called Sacred Enclosures. “No sooner, however, do we pass
to the southward, and arrive among the Creeks, Natchez,
and affiliated Floridian tribes, than we discover traces of
structures which, if they do not entirely correspond with the
regular earthworks of the West, nevertheless seem to be
somewhat analogous to them.* These tribes, indeed, appear
to have been more civilised than those of the North, since
they were agricultural in their habits, lived in considerable
towns, and had a systematized religion, so that, in fact, they
must have occupied a position intermediate, as well econo-
mically as geographically, between the powerful monarchies
of Central America and the hunting tribes of the North.
The “structures to which Mr. Squier alludes are described
by him, both in his “Second Memoir,” and also in the
“Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Yalley” (p. 120).
The “Chunk Yards,” now or lately in use among the Creeks,
and which have only recently been abandoned among the
Cherokees, are rectangular areas, generally occupying the
centre of the town, closed at the sides, but with an opening
at each end. They are sometimes from six to nine hundred
feet in length, being largest in the older towns. The area is
levelled atld slightly sunk, being surrounded by a low bank
formed of the earth thus obtained. In the centre is a low
mound, on which stands the Chunk Pole, to the top of which
is some object which serves as a mark to shoot at. Near each
corner at one end, is a small pole, about twelve feet high ;
these are called the “slave posts,” because in the “good old
times,” captives condemned to the torture were fastened to
them. The name “Chunk Yard” seems to be derived from
an Indian game called “Chunke,” which was played in them.
At one end of, and just outside, this area stands generally
* Squier, l.c. p. 136.
SEPULCHRAL MOUNDS.
215
a circular eminence, with a flat top, upon which is elevated
the Great Council House. At the other end is a flat-topped,
square eminence, about as high as the circular one just men-
tioned; “upon this stands the public square.”
These, and other accounts given by early travellers among
the Indians, certainly throw much light on the circular and
square enclosures ; some of which, though classed by Messrs.
Squier and Davis under this head, seem to me to be the
slight fortifications which surrounded villages, and were un-
doubtedly crowned by stockades. We have already seen that
the position of the ditch is in reality no argument against
this view ; nor does the position of the works seem conclusive,
if we suppose that they were intended less to stand a regulai
siege than to guard against a sudden attack.
Sepulchral Mounds.
The Sepulchral mounds are very numerous in the central
parts of the United States. “ To say that they are innumer-
able in the ordinary sense of the term, would be no exag-
geration. They may literally be numbered by thousands and
tens of thousands.” They vary from six to eighty feet in
height- ; generally stand outside the enclosures : are often
isolated, but often also in groups ; they are usually round,
but sometimes elliptical or pear-shaped. They cover gene-
rally a single skeleton, which however is often burnt. Oc-
casionally there is a stone cist, but urn burial also prevailed
to a considerable extent, especially in the Southern States.
The corpse was generally buried in a contracted position.
Implements both of stone and metal occur frequently; but
while personal ornaments, such as bracelets, perforated plates
of copper, beads of bone, shell, or metal, and similar objects,
are very common, weapons are but rarely found ; a fact
which, in the opinion of Dr. Wilson, “ indicates a totally
216
ANCIENT MODES OF BURIAL.
different condition of society and mode of thought” from those
of the present Indian.
Certain small tumuli found in America have been regarded
as the remains of mud huts. Mr. Dille* has examined and
described some small tumuli observed by him in Missouri.
He dug into several, but never succeeded in finding anything
except coal, char, and a few pieces of pottery, whence he
concluded that they were the remains of mud houses. f
The Mandans, Minatarees, and some other tribes also built
their huts of earth, resting on a framework of wood.
On the other hand, there are some tumuli to which it
would seem that this explanation is quite inapplicable, and
which are full of human remains. This was long supposed
to be the case with the great Grave Creek Mound, which
indeed was positively stated by Atwater, J to be full of human
remains. This has turned out to be an error, but the state-
ment is not the less true as regards other mounds. In con-
junction with them may be mentioned the “bone pits,” many
of which are described by Mr. Squier.§ “ One of these pits,
discovered some years ago in the town of Cambria, Niagara
county, was estimated to contain the bones of several thou-
sand individuals. Another which I visited in the town of
Clarence, Erie county, contained not less than four hundred
skeletons.” A tumulus described by Mr. Jefferson in his
“ Notes on Virginia,” was estimated to contain the skeletons
of a thousand individuals, but in this case the number was
perhaps exaggerated.
The description given by various old writers of the solemn
“Festival of the Dead” satisfactorily explains these large
collections of bones. It seems that every eight or ten years
* Smithsonian Contributions, vol. i. p. 136.
t Archmologia Americana, vol. i. p. 223.
t See also Lapham, l.c. p. 80.
$ l.c. pp. 25, 56, 57, 68, 71, 73, 106, 107. Squier and Davis, l.c. p. 118, etc.
SACRIFICIAL MOUNDS.
217
tlie Indians used to meet at some place previously chosen,
that they dug up their dead, collected the bones together,
and laid them in one common burial place, depositing with
them fine skins and other valuable articles. Several of these
ossuaries are described by Schoolcraft.*
Sacrificial Mounds.
“ The name of Sacrificial Mounds,” says Dr. Wilson, “ has
been conferred on a class of ancient monuments, altogether
peculiar to the New World, and highly illustrative of the
rites and customs of the ancient races of the mounds. This
remarkable class of mounds has been very carefully explored,
and their most noticeable characteristics are, their almost
invariable occurrence within enclosures ; their regular con-
struction in uniform layers of gravel, earth, and sand, disposed
alternately in strata conformable to the shape of the mound ;
and their covering a symmetrical altar of burnt clay or stone,
on which are deposited numerous relics, in all instances ex-
hibiting traces, more or less abundant, of their having been
exposed to the action of fire.” The so-called “altar” is a
basin, or table, of burnt clay, carefully formed into a sym-
metrical form, but varying much both in shape and size.
Some are round, some elliptical, and others squares or paral-
lelograms, while in size they vary from two feet to fifty feet
by twelve or fifteen. The usual dimensions, however, are
from five to eight feet. They are almost always found within
sacred enclosures ; of the whole number examined by Messrs.
Squier and Davis there were only four which were exterior
to the walls of enclosures, and these were but a few rods
distant from them.
The “ altar” is always on a level with the natural soil,
and bears traces of long continued heat ; in one instance,
* l.c. p. 102.
218
THE CONTENTS OF THE
where it appears to have been formed of sand, instead of
clay, the sand for a depth of two inches is discoloured as if
fatty matter of some sort had been burned on it. In this
ease a second deposit of sand had been placed on the first,
and upon this stones a little larger than a hen’s egg were
arranged, so as to form a pavement, which strongly reminds
us of the ancient hearths in the Danish Kj okkenmoddings.
In a few instances, traces of timber were found above
the altar. Thus in one of the twenty-six tumuli forming
the “Mound City” on the Scioto River, were a number of
pieces of timber, four or five feet long, and six or eight
inches thick. “ These pieces had been of nearly uniform
length ; and this circumstance, joined to the position in
which they occurred in respect to each other and to the
altar, would almost justify the inference that they had sup-
ported some funeral or sacrificial pile.”* The contents of
these mounds vary very much. The one just mentioned
contained a quantity of pottery and many implements of
stone and copper, all of which had been subjected to a strong
heat. The pottery may have formed a dozen vessels of
moderate size. The copper articles consisted of two chisels,
and about twenty thin strips. About fifty or a hundred
stone arrow-heads, some flakes, and two carved pipes, com-
pleted the list of articles found in this interesting tumulus.
In another moimd nearly two hundred pipes were buried.
Generally speaking, the deposit is homogeneous. “ That is
to say, instead of finding a large variety of relics, ornaments,
weapons, and other articles, such as go to make up the pos-
sessions of a barbarian dignitary, we find upon one altar
pipes only, upon another a single mass of galena, while the
next one has a quantity of pottery, or a collection of spear
heads, or else is destitute of remains, except perhaps a thin
layer of carbonaceous material. Such could not possibly be
* Squier and Davis, l.c. p. 151.
SACRIFICIAL MOUNDS.
219
the case upon the above hypothesis, for the spear, the arrows,
the pipe, and the other implements, and personal ornaments
of the dead, would then be found in connection with each
other.”*
This conclusion does not seem altogether satisfactory ;
and although these altar-containing mounds differ in so
many respects from the above-described tumuli, I still feel
disposed to regard them as sepulchral rather than sacrificial.
Not having, however, had the advantage of examining them
for myself, I throw this out as a suggestion, rather than
express it as an opinion. It is difficult to understand why
“altars” should be covered up in this manner ; I can call
to mind no analogous case. On the other hand, if Professor
Nilsson’s suggestion with reference to ancient tumuli be
correct, the long continued fire will offer no difficulty.
Among the Buraets, for instance, the hearth is made of
beaten earth, on which a good fire is kept blazing at all
times, f Such a house, if used finally as a sepulchre, would
present an altar very much like those above described ; while
the wooden constructions and the burnt bones will all be ex-
plicable on the hypothesis that we have before us a sepulchre,
rather than a temple.
Nor does the “ homogeneousness” of the deposits found in
these mounds appear so decisive to me as to Messrs. Squier
and Davis. Take, for instance, the cases in which pipes are
found. The excoution of these is so good that “ pipe-
carving” was no doubt a profession; the division of labor
must have already begun. Exactly the same feeling which
induces many savage races to bury weapons with the dead
hunter, in order that he may supply himself with food in
Hades as on earth ; that feeling, which among some ancient
nations suggested the placing of money in the grave, would
account not only for the presence of these pipes, but also
* Squier and Davis, p. 160. f Email, l.c. vol. ii. p. 408.
220
THE GRAVE CREEK MOUND.
for tlieir number. The hunter could use but few weapons,
and must depend for success mainly on his strength and
skill ; whereas the pipe-seller, if he could dispose of a pipe
at all in the grave, might render his whole stock-in-trade
available.
I have already mentioned the great number of objects
found in the Grave Creek Mound, which was undoubtedly
sepulchral, and in which one of the skeletons was accom-
panied by seventeen hundred bone beads, five hundred sea-
shells^ and one hundred and fifty pieces of mica, besides
other objects. Many flakes, arrow-heads, etc., have been at
times found in tumuli, so that the mere number of objects
seems no argument against the sepulchral nature of these
so-called “ sacrificial mounds.”
If, therefore, “ the accumulated carbonaceous matter, like
that formed by the ashes of leaves or grass,” which suggests
to Professor Wilson “ the graceful offerings of the first-fruits
of the earth, so consonant to the milder forms of ancient
sacrifice instituted in recognition of the Lord of the Har-
vest,” seems to me only the framework of the house, or the
material of the funeral pyre ; on the other hand, I avoid
the conclusion to which he is driven, that on “ the altars of
the mound-builders, human sacrifices were made ; and that
within their sacred enclosures were practised rites not less
hideous than those which characterised the worship which
the ferocious Aztecs are affirmed to have regarded as most
acceptable to their sanguinary gods.”
Temple Mounds.
The class of mounds, called by Messrs. Squier and Davis
“ Temple Mounds,” “ are pyramidal structures, truncated,
and generally having graded avenues to their tops. In some
instances they are terraced, or have successive stages. But
whatever their form, whether round, oval, octangular, square,
TEMPLE MOUNDS.
221
or oblong, they have invariably flat or level tops, of greater
or less area.” These mounds much resemble the Teocallis of
Mexico, and had probably a similar origin. They are rare
in the North, though examples occur even as far as Lake
Superior, but become more and more numerous as we pass
down the Mississippi, and especially on approaching the
Gulf, where they constitute the most numei’ous and im-
portant portion of the ancient remains. Some of the largest,
however, are situated in the North. One of the most re-
markable is at Cahokia, in Illinois. This gigantic mound is
stated to be seven hundred feet long, five hundred feet wide at
the base, and ninety feet in height. Its solid contents have
been roughly estimated at twenty millions of cubic feet.
Probably, however, these mounds were not used as tem-
ples only, but also as sites for dwellings, especially for those
of the chiefs. We are told that among the Natchez Indians
“ the temples and the dwellings of the chiefs were raised
upon mounds, and for every new chief a new mound and
dwelling were constructed.” Again, Garcileg-o de la Vega,
in his History of Florida, quoted by Mr. Haven,* says —
“ The town and house of the Cacique of Osachilc are similar
to those of all other caciques in Florida, and, therefore, it
seems best to give one description that will apply generally
to all the capitals, and all the houses of the chiefs in Florida.
I say, then, that the Indians endeavour to place their towns
upon elevated places ; but because such situations arc rare in
Florida, or that they find a difficulty in procuring suitable
materials for building, they raise eminences in this manner.
They choose a place to which they bring a quantity of earth,
which they elevate into a kind of platform two or three pikes
in height (from eighteen to twenty-five feet), of which the
flat top is capable of holding ten or twelve, fifteen or
twenty houses, -to lodge the cacique, his family, and suite. f
* l.c. p. 57. t See also Schoolcraft, l.c. vol. iii. p. 47.
222
ANIMAL MOUNDS.
Animal Mounds.
Not the least remarkable of the American antiquities are
the Animal Mounds, which are principally, though not ex-
clusively, found in Wisconsin. In this district “ thousands
of examples occur of gigantic basso-relievos of men, beasts,
birds, and reptiles, all wrought with persevering labor on the
surface of the soil,” while enclosures and works of defence
are almost entirely wanting, the “ ancient city of Aztalan ”
being, as is supposed, the only example of the former class.
The “ Animal Mounds ” were discovered by Mr. Lapham
in 1836, and described in the newspapers of the day, but the
first account of them in any scientific journal was that by
Mr. R. C. Taylor, in the American Journal of Science and
Art, for April, 1838. In 1843 a longer memoir, by Mr. S.
Taylor, appeared in the same journal. Professor J. Locke
gave some account of them in a “ Report on the Mineral
Lands of the United States,” presented to Congress in 1840.
Messrs. Squier and Davis devoted to the same subject a part
of their work on the “ Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi
Valley;” and finally, the seventh volume of the Smithsonian
Contributions contains the work, by Mr. Lapham, which
gives the most complete accoimt of these interesting remains.
Mr. Lapham gives a map, showing the distribution of
these curious earthworks. They appear to be most numerous
in the southern counties of Wisconsin ; and extend from the
Mississippi to Lake Michigan, following generally the courses
of the river, and being especially numerous along the great
Indian trail, or war-path, from Lake Michigan, near Mil-
waukie, to the Mississippi, above the Prairie du Chien. This,
however, does not prove any connection between the present
Indians and the mounds ; the same line has been adopted
as the route of the United States military road, and may
have been in use for an indefinite period.
GENERAL APPEARANCE.
223
The mounds themselves not only represent animals, such
as men, buffaloes, elks, bears, otters, wolves, raccoons, birds,
serpents, lizards, turtles, and frogs, but also some inanimate
objects, if at least the American archaeologists are right in
regarding some of them as crosses, tobacco-pipes, etc.
Many of the representations are spirited and correct, but
others, probably through the action of time, are less definite ;
one, for instance, near the village of Muscoda, may be either
“ a bird, a bow and arrow, or the human figure.” Their
height varies ’ from one to four feet, sometimes, however,
rising to six feet, and as a “regular elevation of six inches
can be readily traced upon the level prairies” of the West,
their outlines are generally distinctly defined where they
occupy favorable positions. It seems probable that many of
the details have disappeared under the action of rain and
vegetation. At present a “ man ” consists generally of a
head and body, two long arms, and two short legs, no other
details being visible. The “birds” differ from the “men”
principally in the absence of legs. The so-called “lizards,”
which are among the most common forms, have a head, two
legs, and a long tail ; the side view being represented, as is,
indeed, the case with most of the quadrupeds.
One remarkable group in Dale County, close to the Great
Indian trail, consists of a man with extended arms, seven
more or less elongated mounds, one tumulus and six quadru-
peds. The length of the human figure is one hundred and
twenty-five feet, and it is one hundred and forty feet from
the extremity of one arm to that of the other. The quadru-
peds vary from ninety to a hundred and twenty-six feet in
length.
At Waukesha are a number of mounds, tumuli, and ani-
mals, including several “lizards,” a very fine “bird,” and a
magnificent “ turtle.” “ This, when first observed, was a
very fine specimen of the art of mound-building, with its
224
ANIMAL MOUNDS OUT OK WISCONSIN.
graceful curves, the feet projecting back and forward, and
the tail, with its gradual slope, so acutely pointed, that it
was impossible to ascertain precisely where it terminated.
The body was fifty-six feet in length, and the tail two hun-
dred and fifty ; the height six feet.” This group of mounds
is now, alas, covered with buildings. “A dwelling-house
stands on the body of the turtle, and a Catholic church is
built upon the tail.”
“ But,” says Mr. Lapham, “ the most remarkable collec-
tion of lizards and turtles yet discovered is on the school
section, about a mile and a half south-east from the village
of Pewaukee. This consists of seven turtles, two lizards,
four oblong mounds, and one of the remarkable excavations
before alluded to. One of the turtle mounds, partially
obliterated by the road, has a length of four hundred and
fifty feet, being nearly double the usual dimensions. Three
of them are remarkable for their curved tails, a feature here
first observed.”
In several places a very curious variation occurs. The
animals, with the usual form and size, are represented not in
relief, but in intaglio ; not by a mound, but by an excavation.
The few “animal mounds” which have been observed out
of Wisconsin differ in many respects from the ordinary type.
Near Granville, in Ohio, on a high spur of land, is an earth-
work known in the neighbourhood as the “ Alligator.” It
has a head and body, four sprawling legs, aiid a curled tail
The total length is two hundred and fifty feet ; the breadth
of the body forty feet, and the length of the legs thirty-six
feet. “ The head, shoulders, and rump are more elevated
than the other parts of the body, an attempt having evidently
been made to preserve the proportions of the object copied.”
The average height is four feet, at the shoulders six. Even
more remarkable is the great serpent in Adams County,
Ohio. It is situated on a high spur of land, which rises
ANIMAL MOUNDS.
225
a hundred and fifty feet above Brush Creek. “ Con-
forming to the curve of the hill, and occupying its very
summit, is the serpent, its head resting near the point, and
its body -winding hack for seven hundred feet, in graceful
undulations, terminating in a triple coil at the tail. The
entire length, if extended, would be not less than one
thousand feet. The accompanying flan, laid down from
accurate survey, can alone give an adequate conception of
the outline of the work, which is clearly and boldly defined,
the embankment being upwards of five feet in height by
thirty feet base at the centre of the body, but diminishing
somewhat toward the head and tail. The neck of the ser-
pent is stretched out, and slightly curved, and its mouth is
opened wide, as if in the act of swallowing or ejecting an
oval figure, which rests partially within the distended jaws.
This oval is formed by an embankment of earth, without
any perceptible opening, four feet in height, and is per-
fectly regular in outline, its transverse and conjugate
diameters being one hundred and sixty, and eighty feet
respectively.”
When, why, or by whom these remarkable works were
erected, as yet we know not. The present Indians, though
they look upon them with reverence, can throw no light
upon their origin. Nor do the contents of the mounds
themselves assist us in this inquiry. Several of them have
been opened, and in making the streets of Milwaukie many
of the mounds have been entirely removed, but the only
result has been to show that they are not sepulchral, and
that, excepting by accident, they contain no implements or
ornaments.
Under these circumstances speculation would be useless ;
we can but wait, and hope that time and perseverance may
solve the problem, and explain the nature of these remark-
able and mysterious monuments.
15
226
INSCRIPTIONS.
INSCRIPTIONS.
There is one class of objects which I have not yet men-
tioned, and which yet ought not to be left entirely unnoticed.
The most remarkable of these is the celebrated Dighton
Rock on the east bank of the Taunton River. Its history,
and the various conclusions which have been derived from it,
are very amusingly given by Dr. Wilson.* In 1783, the
Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., President of Yale College, when
preaching before the Governor of the ‘State of Connecticut,
appealed to this rock, inscribed, as he believed, with Phoeni-
cian characters, for a proof that the Indians were descended
from Canaan, and were therefore accursed. Count de
Gebelin regarded the inscription as Carthaginian. In the
eighth volume of the “ Archaeologia,” Colonel Vallency en-
deavours to prove that it is Siberian ; while certain Danish
antiquaries regarded it as Runic, and thought that they
could read the name “ Thorfinn,” “ with an exact, though by
no means so manifest, enumeration of the associates who,
according to the Saga, accompanied Karlsefne’s expedition to
Vinland, in a.d. 1007.” Finally, Mr. Schoolcraft submitted
a copy of it to Chingwauk, an intelligent Indian chief, who
“ interpreted it as the record of an Indian triumph over
some rival native tribe,” but without offering any opinion as
to its antiquity.
In the “ Grave Creek Mound” was found a small oval
disk of white sandstone, on which were engraved twenty-two
letters. Mr. Schoolcraft, who has especially studied this relic,
finally concludes, after corresponding with many American
and European archaeologists, according to Dr. Wilson, f
that of these twenty-two letters, four corresponded “ with
ancient Greek, four with the Etruscan, five with the old
Northern Runes, six with the ancient Gaelic, seven with the
* Pre-historic Man, ii. p. 172. f Do. vol. ii. p. 160.
WAMl’UM.
227
old Erse, ten with, the Phoenician, fourteen with the Anglo-
Saxon, and sixteen with the Celtiberic ; besides which pos-
sibly equivalents may he found in the old Ilebrew. It thus
appears that this ingenious little stone is even more accom-
modating than the Dighton Rock, in adapting itself to all
conceivable theories of antc-columbian colonisation.” A
stone of such doubtful character could prove little under any
circumstances ; but it must also be mentioned that “ Dr.
James W. Clemens communicated to Dr. Morton all the
details of the exploration of the Grave Creek Mound ;
. without any reference to the discovery of the inscribed
stone. Nor was it till the excavated vault had been fitted
up by its proprietor for exhibition, to all who cared to pay
for the privilege of admission, that the marvellous inscrip-
tion oppor timely came to light to add to the attractions of
the show.”
One or two other equally doubtful cases are upon record,
but upon the whole we may safely assert that there is no
reason to suppose that the nations of America had developed for
themselves anything corresponding to an alphabet. The art of
picture-writing, which they shared with the Aztecs and the
Quipa of the Peruvians, was supplemented among the North
American Indians by the “ wampum.” This curious substi-
tute for writing consisted of variously-coloured heads, gene-
rally worked upon leather. One very interesting example
is the belt of wampum “ delivered by the Lenni Lenape
Sachems to the founder of Pennsylvania, at the Great Treaty,
under the elm-tree at Shachamox in 1682.” It is still pre-
served in the collection of the Historical Society at Phila-
delphia, and consists of “eighteen strings of wampum formed
of white and violet beads worked upon leather thongs,” the
whole forming a belt twenty-eight inches long, and two-and-
a-half broad. “ On this five patterns are worked in violet
beads on a white ground, and in the centre Penn is repre-
228
THE MOUND BUILDERS.
sentecl taking' the hand of the Indian Sachem. The large
number of heads found in some of the tumuli were perhaps
in a similar manner intended to commemorate the actions
and virtues of the dead.
THE MOUND BUILDERS.
Just as the wigwam of the recent Mandan consisted of an
outer layer of earth supported on a wooden framework, so
also, in the ancient sepulchral tumuli, the body was pro-
tected only by beams and planks ; when therefore these latter
decayed, the earth sank in and crushed the skeleton within.
Partly from this cause, and partly from the habit of burying
in ancient tumuli, which makes it sometimes difficult to dis-
tinguish the primary from secondary interments, it happens
that from so many thousand tumuli we have only three well-
preserved skulls which indisputably belong to the ancient
race. These are decidedly brachycephalic ; but it is evident
that we must not attempt to build much upon so slight a
basis.
No proof of a knowledge of letters, no trace of a burnt
brick, have yet been discovered, and so far as we may judge
from their arms, ornaments, and pottery, the mound-builders
closely resembled some at least of the recent Indian tribes; and
the earthworks agree in form with, if they differ in magnitude
from, those still, or until lately, in use. Yet this very magni-
tude is sufficient to show that, at some early period, the great
river valleys of the United States must have been more
densely populated than they were when first discovered by
Europeans. The immense number of small earthworks, and
the mounds, “ which may be counted by thousands and tens
of thousands,” might indeed be supposed to indicate either a
long time or a great population ; but in other cases we have
no such alternative. The Newark constructions ; the mound
near Florence in Alabama, which is forty-five feet in height
GIGANTIC EARTHWORKS.
2? 9
by four hundred and forty feet in circumference at the base,
with a level area at the summit of one hundred and fifty feet
in circumference ; the still greater mound on the Etowah
river, also in Alabama, which has a height of more than
seventy-five feet, with a circumference of twelve hundred
feet at the base, and one hundred and forty at the summit ;
the embankments at the mouth of the Scioto river, which are
estimated to be twenty miles in length ; the great mound at
Selserstown, Mississippi, which covers six acres of ground ;
and the truncated pyramid at Cahokia, to which we have
already alluded ; these works, and many others which might
have been quoted, indicate a population both large and
stationary ; for which hunting cannot have supplied enough
food, as it has been estimated that in a forest country each
hunter requires an area of not less than 50,000 acres for his
support ; and which must, therefore, have derived its sup-
port in a great measure from agriculture. “ There is not,”
say Messrs. Squier and Davis, “ and there was not in the
sixteenth century, a single tribe of Indians (north of the
semi-civilised nations) between the Atlantic and the Pacific,
which had means of subsistence sufficient to enable them to
apply, for such purposes, the unproductive labor necessary
for the work ; nor was there any in such a social state as to
compel the labor of the people to be thus applied.” We
know also that many, if not most of the Indian tribes, at
that time still cultivated the ground to a certain extent, and
there is some evidence that even within historic times this
was more the case than at present. Thus De Nonville
estimates the amount of Indian corn destroyed by him in
four Seneca villages at 1,200,000 quarters.
Mr. Lapham* has brought forward some ingenious reasons
for thinking that the forests of Wisconsin were at no very
distant period much less general than at present. In the
* l.c. p. 90.
230 TRACES OF ANCIENT AGRICULTURE.
first place, tlie largest trees are probably not more than
five hundred years old; and large tracts are now covered
with “young trees, where there are no traces of antecedent
growth.” Every year many trees are blown down, and fre-
quent storms pass through the forest, throwing down nearly
everything before them. Mr. Laphain gives a map of these
windfalls in one district ; they are very conspicuous, firstly,
because the trees, having a certain quantity of earth en-
tangled among their roots, continue to vegetate for several
years ; and, secondly, because even when the trees themselves
have died and rotted away, the earth so torn up forms little
mounds, which are often mistaken by the inexperienced for
Indian graves. “From the paucity of these little ‘tree-
niounds,’ we infer that no very great antiquity can be as-
signed to the dense forests of Wisconsin, for during a long
period of time, with no material change of climate, we would
expect to find great numbers of these little monuments of
ancient storms scattered everywhere over the ground.”
But there is other more direct evidence of ancient asrri-
o
culture. In many places the ground is covered with small
mammillary elevations, which are known as Indian corn-
hills. “They are without order of arrangement, being scat-
tered over the ground with the greatest irregularity. That
these hillocks were formed in the manner indicated by their
name, is inferred from the present custom of the Indians.
The corn is planted in the same spot each successive year,
and the soil is gradually brought up to the size of a little hill
by the annual additions.”* But Mr. Lapham has also found
traces of an earlier and more systematic cultivation. These
consist “ of low, parallel ridges, as if com had been planted
in drills. They average four feet in width, twenty-five of
them having been counted in the space of a hundred feet ;
and the depth of the walk between them is about six inches.
* Lapharo, t.e. p. 19.
ANTIQUITY OF THE ANCIENT REMAINS.
231
These appearances, which are here denominated ‘ ancient
garden-beds,’ indicate an earlier and more perfect system of
cultivation than that which now prevails ; for the present
Indians do not appear to possess the ideas of taste and order
necessary to enable them to arrange objects in consecutive
rows. Traces of this kind of cultivation, though not very
abundant, are found in several other parts of the State (Wis-
consin). The garden beds are of various sizes, covering,
generally, from twenty to one hundred acres. Some of them
are reported to embrace even three hundred acres. As a
general fact, they exist in the richest soil, as it is found
in the prairies and bun oak plains. In the latter case, trees
of the largest kind are scattered over them.”
DATE.
In the “Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley” it
is stated that no earthwork has ever been found on the first
or lowest terrace of any of the great rivers, and that “ this
observation is confirmed by all who have given attention to
the subject.” If true, this would, indeed, have indicated a
great antiquity, but in his subsequent work Mr. Squier in-
forms us that “they occur indiscriminately upon the first and
upon the superior terraces, as also upon the islands of the
lakes and rivers.” Messrs Squier and Davis* are of opinion
that the decayed state of the skeletons found in the mounds
may enable us to form “ some approximate estimate of their
remote antiquity,” especially when we consider that the earth
round them “ is wonderfully compact and dry, and that the
conditions for their preservation are exceedingly favorable.”
“ In the barrows of the ancient Britons,” they add, “ entire
well preserved skeletons are found, although possessing an
undoubted antiquity of at least eighteen hundred years.”
Dr. Wilson f also relies much on this fact, which, in his
* l.c. p. 168. f l.c. vol. i. p. 359.
232
CONDITION OF THE BONES.
opinion, “furnishes a stronger evidence of their great an-
tiquity than any of the proofs that have been derived either
from the age of a subsequent forest growth, or the changes
wrought on the river terraces where they most abound.” It
is true that the bones in Stone age graves are often extremely
well preserved ; but it is equally true that those in Saxon
barrows have in many cases entirely perished- In fact,
the condition of ancient bones depends so much on the
circumstances in which they have been placed, that we
must not attribute much importance to this argument. The
evidence derived from the forests is more reliable. Thus
Captain Peck* observed near the Ontonagon river, and at a
depth of twenty-five feet, some stone mauls and other imple-
ments in contact with a vein of copper. Above these was the
fallen trunk of a large cedar, and “over all grew a hemlock
tree, the roots of which spread entirely above the fallen
tree ” and indicated, in his estimation, a growth of
not less than three centuries, to which must then be added
the age of the cedar, which indicates a still “ longer succession
of centuries, subsequent to that protracted period during
which the deserted trench was slowly filled up with accumu-
lations of many winters.”
The late President Harrison, in an address to the Historical
Society of Ohio, made some very interesting remarks on
this subject, which are quoted by Messrs. Squier and Davis. +
“The process,” he says, “by which nature restores the
forest to its original state, after being once cleared, is ex-
tremely slow. The rich lands of the west are, indeed, soon
covered again, but the character of the growth is entirely
different, and continues so for a long period. In several
places upon the Ohio, and upon the farm which I occupy,
clearings were made in the first settlement of the country,
and subsequently abandoned and suffered to grow up. Some
* Wilson, l.e. vol. i. p. 256. f l.c. p. 306.
AMERICAN FORESTS.
233
of these new forests are now sure of fifty years’ growth, but
they have made so little progress towards attaining the ap-
pearance of the immediately contiguous forest, as to induce
any man of reflection to determine that at least ten times
fifty years must elapse before their complete assimilation can
be effected. We find in the ancient works all that variety
of trees which give such unrivalled beauty to our forests, in
natural proportions. The first growth on the same kind of
land, once cleared and then abandoned to nature, on the con-
trary, is nearly homogeneous, often stinted to one or two, at
most three kinds of timber. If the ground has been cul-
tivated, the yellow locust will thickly spring up ; if not
cultivated the black and white walnut will be the prevailing-
growth Of what immense age, then, must be
the works so often referred to, covered as they are by at
least the second growth, after the primitive forest state was
regained ?”
We get another indication of antiquity in the “garden
beds,” which we have already described. This system of cul-
tivation has long been replaced by the simple and irregular
“ cornhills and yet, according to Mr. Lapham,* the garden
beds are much more recent than the mounds, across which
they sometimes extend in the same manner as over the
adjoining grounds. If, therefore, these mounds belong to the
same era as those which are covered with wood, we get thus
indications of three periods; the first, that of the mounds
themselves ; the second, that of the garden beds ; and the
third, that of the forests.
But American agriculture was not imported from abroad;
it resulted from, and in return rendered possible, the gradual
development of American semi-civilisation. This is proved
by the fact, that the grains of the Old World were entirely
absent, and that American agriculture was founded on the
* l.c. p. 19.
234
INDICATION OF FOUR PERIODS.
maize, an American plant. Thus, therefore, we appear to
have indications of four long jieriods.
1. That in which, from an original barbarism, the Ameri-
can tribes developed a knowledge of agriculture and a power
of combination.
2. That in which for the first time, mounds were erected,
and other great works undertaken.
3. The age of the “ garden beds,” which occupy some at
least of the mounds. Hence it is probable that these par-
ticular garden beds ” were not in use until after the
mounds had lost their sacred character in the eyes of the
occupants of the soil ; for it can hardly be supposed that
works executed with so much care would be thus desecrated
by their builders.
4. The period in which man relapsed into partial bar-
barism ; and the spots which had been first forest, then,
perhaps, sacred monuments, and thirdly cultivated ground,
relapsed into forest once more.
But even if we attribute to these changes all the im-
portance which has ever been claimed for them, they will not
require an antiquity of more than three thousand years. I
do not, of course, deny that the period may have been very
much greater, but, in my opinion at least, it need not be
greater. At the same time there are other observations,
which, if they shall eventually prove to be correct, would
indicate a very much higher antiquity.
One of these is an account* by Dr. A. C. Koch of a mas-
todon found in Gasconade County, Missouri, which had
apparently been stoned to death by the Indians, and then
partially consumed by fire. The fire, he says, was evidently
“ not an accidental one, but, on the contrary, it had been
kindled by human agency, and, according to all appearance,
with the design of killing the huge creature, which had been
* Trans, of tbc Academy of Science of St. Louis. 1857. P. 61.
MAN AND THE MASTODON.
235
found mired in the mud and in an entirely helpless condition.
All the bones which had not been burnt by the fire had kept
their original position, standing upright and apparently quite
undisturbed in the clay; whereas those portions, which had
been exposed above the surface, had been partially consumed
by the fire. .......
There were, also, found mingled with these ashes and bones,
and partly protruding out of them, a large number of broken
pieces of rock, which had evidently been carried thither
from the shore of the Bourbense river, to be hurled at the
animal by his destroyers ; for the above-mentioned layer of
clay was entirely void of even the smallest pebbles : whereas,
on going to the river, I found the stratum of clay cropping
out at the bank, and resting on a layer of shelving rocks of
the same kind as the fragments ; from which place, it was
evident they had been carried to the scene of action. .
I found, also, among the ashes, bones, and rocks, several
arrow-heads, a stone spear-head, and some stone axes.”
In a second case the same writer assures us that he found
several stone arrow-heads mingled with the bones of a mas-
todon. “ One of the arrow-heads lay underneath the thigh-
bone of the skeleton, the bone actually resting in contact
upon it ; so that it could not have been brought thither
after the deposit of the bone ; a fact which I was careful
thoroughly to investigate.”
In the valley of the Mississippi, Dr. Dickeson, of Natchez,
found the os innominatum of a man with some bones of
the Mastodon ohioticus, which had fallen from the side of
a cliff undermined by a rivulet; but, as Sir C. Lyell has
already pointed out, it is perfectly possible that this bone
236
DR. DOULER’s CALCULATION.
may have been derived from one of the Indian graves, which
are very numerous in this locality. Again, Count Pourtalis has
found some human bones in a calcareous conglomerate, esti-
mated by Agassiz to be ten thousand years old ; and finally,
Dr. Doider obtained, from an excavation near New Orleans,
some charcoal and a human skeleton, to which he is inclined
to attribute an antiquity of no less than fifty thousand years.
None of these cases, however, can be regarded as entirely con-
clusive ; and on the whole, though the idea is certainly much
less improbable than it was some years ago, there does not
as yet appear to be any satisfactory proof that man co-existed
in America with the mammoth and mastodon.
If, however, the facts above recorded justify the conclusion
that parts, at least, of North America once supported a nu-
merous and agricultural population, then we cannot but
ask, What fatal cause destroyed this earlier civilisation ?
Why were these fortifications forsaken — these cities in ruins ?
How were the populous nations which once inhabited the rich
American valleys reduced to the poor tribes of savages which
the Europeans found there P Did the North and South once
before rise up in arms against one another ? “ Did the
terrible appellation of ‘ The Dark and Bloody Land,’ applied
to Kentucky, commemorate these ancient wars?” Absit
omen. Let us hope that our kinsmen in America may yet
pause ere they, in like manner, sacrifice a common prosperity
to a mutual hatred.
237
CHAPTER VIII.
CAVE-MEN.
I HE principal species of mammalia, which have either
become entirely distinct, or very much restricted in
their geographical distribution, since the appearance of man
in Europe, are —
The cave-bear (Ursus spelceus).
The cave-hyaena ( Hgcena spelwa).
The cave-tiger ( Felis spelcea).
The mammoth (Elephas primigenius) .
The woolly-haired rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros tichorinus).
The hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus major).
The Irish elk ( Megaceros hibernicus).
The musk ox ( Ocibo.s moschatus).
The reindeer ( Cervus tarandus).
The aurochs ( Bison Europmis).
The urus [Bos primigenius).
The first seven of these appear to be entirely extinct, but
as it is now evident that their disappearance was due to a
gradual change of circumstances, rather than to any sudden
cataclysm, or general destruction of life, it is also very im-
probable that their extinction was simultaneous ; and, acting
on this idea, M. Lartet has attempted* to construct a palaeon-
tological chronology.
The remains of the cave-bear are abundant in Central
* Ann. des Sci. Nat. 1861, p. 217.
238
CAVE-BEAR. CAVE-LION.
Europe, and in the Southern parts of Russia. It is doubtful
whether it has yet been discovered north of the Baltic or
south of the Alps, but it appears to have crossed the Alps,
and is recorded by Don Casciano de Prado as occurring in a
cave near Segovia. No trace of it has, however, yet been
found by Mr. Busk and Dr. Falconer, among the numerous
remains from Gibraltar. The oldest specimen yet recorded
appears to be that mentioned by Owen, as having been found
in the pliocene deposits of Boston in Norfolk, associated with
the remains of Trogontherium, Palceospalax, etc.* It is also
included in the lists of species found near Abbeville, but
M. Lartet thinks there must be some mistake about this,
as he has been unable to find a single bone of this species
in any of the collections from the Somme valley ; and of all
the quaternary mammalia, he regards the cave-bear as having
been the one which was the first to perish. Subsequent in-
vestigations have proved, however, that it does occur, though
sparingly, in the river-drift gravels.
The cave-hyaena, and cave-tiger, are found associated with
the JJrsus spelams in the caverns. They have also been dis-
covered by M. Delesse, with the aurochs and the woolly-
haired rhinoceros, in a bed which M. Delesse refers to the
lower layers of the Diluvium. They do not appear to have
been as yet met with in the upper layers of the river-drift
gravels, or in the peat bogs.
On the other hand, M. Lartet hints that the lions of
Thessaly, which, according to Herodotus, attacked the beasts
of burden attached to the army of Xerxes, f may possibly
have belonged to this species. Nay, more, he quotes the
opinion of Dr. Falconer, that the large Fells of Northern
China and the Altai mountains has been too hastily referred
* History of British Fossil Mammals and Birds, p. 106.
f See also Mr. A. Newton’s interesting Memoir on the Zoology of Ancient
Europe. Cam. Phil. Soc., Mar. 1862.
MAMMOTH, AND WOOLLY-HAIRED RHINOCEROS. 239
to the Felis tigris, and that it may eventually prove to he
the lineal descendant and living representative of the
F. spelcea.
The geographical range of the mammoth was very ex-
tensive. Its remains are found in North America, from
Behring’s Straits to South Carolina, and in the old con-
tinent, from the furthest extremity of Siberia, to the extreme
west of Europe ; it crossed the Alps, and established itself
in Italy, but it has not yet been discovered south of the
Pyrenees. Neither the mammoth nor the woolly-haired
rhinoceros have been found in any stratum anterior to the
river-drift gravels. M. Lartet, however, follows Murchi-
son, Be Verneuil, and Keyserling in believing that these
animals lived in Siberia long before they found their way
into Europe ; that, in fact, they belonged to the tertiary fauna
of Northern Asia, though they did not make their appear-
ance in Europe until the quaternary period. So far then as
Europe is concerned, these two species seem to have made
their appearance at a later date, and they perhaps survived
a more recent period than the Ursus spelceus.
They are, indeed, very characteristic of the river-drift de-
posits, and are found also in the loess of the Bhine and its
principal tributaries, but they have not yet been met with in
the peat bogs. They never occur in the Kjokkenmoddings,
the Lake-habitations, or the tumuli, nor is there the slightest
tradition which can be regarded as indicating, even in the
most obscure manner, a recollection of the existence in
Europe of these two gigantic Pachyderms.
The magnificent Irish elk, or Mcgaceros hibernicus, which
attained a height of ten feet four inches, with horns mea-
suring eleven feet from tip to tip, appears to have had a
much more restricted range. Its remains have been found
in Germany as far as Silesia, in France down to the Pyrenees,
and it appears even to have crossed the Alps. It seems.
240
IRISH ELK.
however, to have been most abundant in the British Isles,
and especially in Ireland. It has been found at Walton, in
Essex, and at Happisburgh, in strata which are considered to
belong to the Norwich Crag, and must originally, therefore,
have belonged to the tertiary fauna. It is reported to have
been frequently found in peat bogs, but Professor Owen, who
made numerous inquiries on the subject, believes that, in
reality, the bones generally occur in the lacustrine shell marl,
which underlies the peat or bog earth.*
In the Niebelungen Lied of the twelfth century, a mys-
terious animal is mentioned under the name of schelch :
After this he straightway slew a bison and an elk,
Of the strong uri four, and one fierce schelch.
It has been supposed by some writers that the schelch was,
in fact, the Megaceros hibernicus. There is, however, no suf-
ficient reason for this hypothesis, and we must remember that
the same poem, as Dr. Buckland well pointed out, contains
allusions to giants, dwarfs, pigmies, and fire-dragons. Neither
Caesar nor Tacitus mention the Irish elk, and they would
surely not have omitted such a remarkable animal, if it had
existed in their time. Moreover, though there is no longer
any doubt that this species coexisted with man, the evidence
of this has been obtained from the bone-caves, and from
strata belonging to the age of the river-drift gravels.
No remains of the Irish elk have yet been found in asso-
ciation with bronze, nor indeed are we aware of any which
can be referred to the later, or Neolithic ao-e.
The reindeer still exists in Northern Europe, in Siberia,
and in the mountainous districts of the Caucasus. Even so
recently as the time of Pallas it might still be met with on
the wooded summits of the Oural Mountains. A very
nearly-allied species, even if indeed it be distinct, is widely
* Owen, l.c. p. 465.
REINDEER.
241
distributed in Northern America. But, as far as concerns
Western Europe, it must be regarded as an extinct species.
We have no evidence as to whether it crossed the Alps
or the Pyrenees, but it was certainly abundant at one time
in England and France, whence, however, it is unneces-
sary to say, it has long disappeared. Even at the present
day the reindeer, like the Laplander, is gradually retiring
northwards, unable to resist the pressure of advancing
civilisation.
Even within the last ten years a few families of Lapps
might still be found in the neighbourhood of Nystuen, on
the summit of the Fillefjeld, and some other places in the
South of Norway, but none are now to be found on this
side of the Namsen river. The reindeer in a wild state,
indeed, even at the present day, is generally distributed,
though in small numbers, over the highest and wildest of
the Norwegian fjelds, protected however by stringent game
laws, but for which it would, probably, have ere now ceased
to exist.
As far as we can judge from the present evidence, the first
appearance of the reindeer in Europe coincided with that of
the mammoth, and took place at a later period than that of
the cave-bear or Irish elk. It is generally found wherever
the mammoth and woolly-haired rhinoceros occur ; but,
on the other hand, as its remains are abundant in some
of the bone-caves in which the gigantic Pachyderms are
wanting, it is probable that it existed to a still later period.
The reindeer has not, however, been found in the Kjokken-
moddings, nor in any of the tumuli. It is also wanting in
the Swiss Lake-villages, although we know that it was at
one time an inhabitant of Switzerland, bones of it hav-
ing been found in a cave at L’Echelle, between the great
and little Saleve, near Geneva, where they were mixed
with worked flints, ashes, and remains of the ox and horse.
16
242
AUROCHS.
All the bones were broken in the usual and characteristic
manner.
As might naturally have been expected, the reindeer has
been occasionally found in the peat mosses of Sweden, though
not, I believe, as yet in those of England and France. Nor
is it represented on any of the ancient British or Gallic
coins. Cassar, indeed, mentions it as existing in the great
Ilercynian forest ; but his description is both imperfect and
incorrect. He seems to have heard of it only at second
hand, and never to have met with anybody who had actually
seen one. It does not appear to have ever been exhibited in
the Roman circus.
The aurochs was common in central and southern Europe,
and appears to date back to a period long before the
arrival of the mammoth or woolly-haired rhinoceros. It
existed in England at the period of the Norwich Crag, its
remains occur in the river-drift gravels, the bone-caves, the
Lake-villages of Switzerland, and in the peat bogs, though
none have yet been found in the shell-mounds of Denmark.
M. Lartct thinks that it is represented on a coin of the
Santones, which was shown to him by M. de Saulcy. It is
stated by Pliny and Seneca to have existed in their times,
with the urus, in the great forests of Germany. Though
not mentioned by Caesar, it is alluded to in the Niebelungen
Lied, and is said to have existed in Prussia down to the year
1775. Indeed, it still survives in the imperial forests of
Lithuania, where it is preserved by the Emperor of Russia,
and also, according to Nordmann and Yon Baer, in some
parts of Western Asia.
The urus seems to have had a wider geographical range
even than the aurochs. It has been found throughout
Europe, in England, Denmark, and Sweden, in France and
Germany, across the Alps and Pyrenees, it occurs in Italy
and Spain, and even, according to M. Gervais, in Northern
URUS.
243
Africa. In the Museum at Lund is a skeleton belonging to
this species, in which one of the vertebral still shows traces
of a wound, made, in the opinion of Professor Nilsson, by a
flint arrow. Bones of this species have also been met with
in ancient tumuli, as well as in the Lake-habitations, and the
Kj bkkeninoddings.
Caesar particularly mentions the urus as occurring in the
Hercynian forest ; it is alluded to in the Niebelungen Lied,
and, according to Herberstein, it existed in Germany down
to the sixteenth century, soon after which it seems to have
become extinct, unless, indeed, it be represented by the
celebrated wild cattle of Chillingham, and some of our
domestic breeds.
As the practical result of this palaeontological chronology,
derived from the mammalia characteristic of the quaternary
period, M. Lartet considers that we may establish four
divisions in “ la periode de l’humanite primitive, Page du
grand ours des cavernes, Page de l’elephant et du rhino-
ceros, Page du renne, et Page de l’aurochs.” It is evi-
dent, I think, that the appearance of these mammalia in
Europe was not simultaneous, and that their disappearance
has been successive. The evidence is very strong that the
aurochs survived the reindeer in Western Europe, and almost
equally so that the reindeer lived on to a later period than
the mammoth or the woolly-haired rhinoceros. But the
chronological distinction between these two species and the
cave-bear does not appear to be so well established. Admit-
ting that the cave-bear has not yet been found in the river-
gravels of the Somme valley, which have been so carefully
examined, still we must remember that the animal was essen-
tially a cave-dweller, and that its absence is, perhaps, to be
attributed rather to the absence of caves than to the extinc-
tion of the species. Moreover, the bones found in the
gravel are very much broken, and some bones of the large
244
VALUE OF CAVE-EVIDENCE.
specimens of the brown bear so closely resemble those of
Ursus spelccus that it is not easy to distinguish them.
So far as concerns the age of the aurochs, the bone-caves
have not yet added anything to the knowledge which we
have obtained from the study of the tumuli, and of the Swiss
lake-dwellings. It would not be possible, within the limits of
the present chapter, to mention all the caves in which human
remains have been found in association with, and apparently
belonging to the same period as those of the extinct mam-
malia. I will only call attention to a few of those cases
which have been most carefully studied, and in which the
conclusions appear to be satisfactorily established.
It is unnecessary to say that a great number of caves
present evidence of having been inhabited during times long
subsequent to those which we are now considering ; but for
the Neolithic age, as well as for all later periods, we have,
as has been already mentioned, other sources of information,
and more satisfactory evidence than any which can be derived
from the examination of caves.
Some writers, indeed, have gone so far as to question
altogether the value of what may be called cave-evidence.
They have suggested that the bones of extinct animals may
have lain in the caves for ages before the appearance of man ;
that relics of the human period may have been introduced
subsequently ; and that remains belonging to very different
periods may have thus been mixed together. This was,
indeed, the conclusion arrived at by M. Desnoyers, even so
recently as the year 1845, in his article on Bone-caves.*
Unless this argument admitted of a satisfactory answer, it
must be conceded that the evidence derivable from cave
contents would always be liable to grave suspicion. I
* Recherches Geologiques et his- Dictionnaire Universel d’Histoire Na-
toriques sur les cavernes, partieuliere - turelle.
ment sur les cavernes h ossements.
CAVES IN THE DORDOGNE.
245
trust, however, to he able to show that this is not the
case.
During the last year M. Lartet, in conjunction with
Mr. Christy, has examined with great care a number of small
caves and rock-shelters in the Dordogne, some of which had
already attracted the attention of archaeologists. * These
caves are particularly interesting, because, so far, at least, as
we can judge from the present state of the evidence, they
belong to M. Lartet’s reindeer period, and tend, therefore,
to connect the later or Polished Stone age with the period
of the river- drifts and the great extinct mammalia ; repre-
senting a period about which we had previously very
little information. Those which have been most carefully
examined are ten in number, viz., Laugerie, La Madelaine,
Les Eyzies, La Gorge d’Enfer, Le Moustier, Liveyre, Pey de
l’Aze, Combe- Granal, and Badegoulc, most of which I have
myself had the advantage of visiting. Some of these, as, for
instance, Les Eyzies and Le Moustier, are at a considerable
height above the stream, but others — as those at La Made-
laine and Laugerie — are little above the present flood-line,
showing, therefore, that the level of the river is now nearly
the same as it was at the period during which these caves
were inhabited.
The rivers of the Dordogne run in deep valleys cut through
calcareous strata ; and while the sides of the valleys in chalk
districts are generally sloping, in this case, owing probably
to the hardness of the rock, they are very frequentty vertical.
Small caves and grottoes frequently occur; besides which,
as the different strata possess unequal powers of resistance
against atmospheric influences, the face of the rock is, as it
were, scooped out in many places, and thus “ rock-shelters”
are produced. In very ancient times these caves and rock-
* De POrigine et de l’Enfance des Arts en Perigord. Tar M. PAbbc Audierne.
246
CAVES IN THE DORDOGNE.
shelters were inhabited by men, who have left behind them
abundant evidences of their presence. But as civilisation
advanced, man, no longer content with the natural, but in-
convenient, abode thus offered to him, excavated chambers
for himself, and in places the whole face of the rock is honey-
combed with doors and windows leading into suites of rooms,
often in tiers one over another, so as to suggest the idea of a
French Petra. In the troublous times of the middle ages
many of these, no doubt, served as very efficient fortifications,
and even now some of them are still in use as storehouses,
and for other purposes. At Brantome I saw an old chapel
which had been cut in the solid rock, and resembled the
descriptions given of the celebrated rock-cut temples in India.
Apart from the scientific interest, it was impossible not
to enjoy the beauty of the scene which passed before our eyes
as we dropped down the Yezere. As the river visited some-
times one side of its valley, sometimes the other, so we had
at one moment rich meadow lands on each side, or found
ourselves close to the perpendicular and almost overhanging
cliff. Here and there we came upon some picturesque old
castle, and though the trees were not in full leaf, the rocks
were in many places green with box and ivy and evergreen
oak, which harmonised well with the rich yellow brown of
the stone itself.
But to return to the bone-caves. Remains of the cave-
bear have been found at the Pey de l’Aze, of the cave-hyaona
at Le Moustier, and separated plates of elephant molars have
occurred at Le Moustier and at Laugerie, accompanied at the
latter place by a piece of a pelvis. As regards the two
first species, MM. Christy and Lartet regard them as pro-
bably belonging to an earlier period than the human remains
found in the same caves. The presence of the pelvis has
been regarded as an evidence of the contemporaneity of the
mammoth with the reindeer hunters of Laugerie, and it is
ABSENCE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
247
certainly difficult to see why they should have brought a
fossil bone into their cave, more especially as the bones of
elephants, from the looseness of their texture, are not well
adapted for implements. Still MM. Christy and Lartet do
not commit themselves to any opinion, having, as they say,
laid down “ une loi de ne proceder dans nos inductions que
par Evidences incontestables.”
As regards the Felis spelcea, a metacarpal bone belonging
probably to this species, and bearing marks of knives, was
found in the cave of Les Eyzies.
Still, so far as the positive zoological evidence is con-
cerned, the antiquity of the human remains found in these
grottoes rests mainly on the presence of the reindeer, as
regards which the evidence is conclusive. The bones of
this species are all broken open for the marrow; many of
them bear the marks of knives, and at Les Eyzies a ver-
tebra was found which had been pierced by a flint flake.
MM. Christy and Lartet are quite satisfied that this bone
must have been fresh when it was thus transfixed. More-
over, as we shall presently see, there is still more conclusive
evidence that man and the reindeer were contemporaneous
in this locality.
But in its negative aspect the zoological evidence is also
very instructive. No remains have been found which, in the
opinion of MM. Christy and Lartet, can be referred to do-
mestic animals. It is true that bones of the ox and horse
occur, but there is no evidence that they belonged to domes-
ticated individuals. Remains of the boar are very rare,
and if these animals had been domesticated we might have
expected to find them in greater abundance. The sheep and
goat are entirely wanting, and what is still more remarkable,
even the dog appears to be absent. At the same time the
bones of the horse and reindeer, especially of the latter, are
very numerous, and I do not feel so satisfied as MM. Lartet
248
CAVES IN THE DORDOGNE.
and Christy, that some of them, at least, may not have
belonged to domesticated individuals.
A o-lance at the collections made by MM. Christy and
Lartet, or that of M. le Yicomte de Lastic from Bruniquel,
will show that a very large proportion of the animal remains
consists of teeth, lower jaws, and horns. Other bones do
indeed occur, but they form a small fraction of the whole.
Yet we cannot attribute this to the presence of dogs,
partly because no remains of this species have yet been dis-
covered, partly because the bones which remain have not
been gnawed, but principally because dogs eat only certain
bones and parts of bones, as a general rule selecting the
spongy portions, and rejecting the solid shafts.
Mr. Galton has pointed out that some of the savage
tribes of Africa, not content with the flesh of the animals
which they kill, pound up also the bones in mortars, and
then suck out the animal juices contained in them. So also,
according to Leems, the Danish Laplanders used to break up
with a mallet all the bones which contained any fat or
marrow, and then boil them until all the fat was extracted.*
The Esquimaux also mash up the bones for the sake of the
marrow contained in them.f Some of the ancient stone
hammers and mortars were no doubt used for this purpose,
and the proportions of the different bones afford us, I
think, indirect evidence that a similar custom prevailed
among the ancient inhabitants of Southern France.
Passing on now to the flint implements found in these
caves, we must first call attention to their marvellous
abundance. Without any exaggeration they may be said to
be innumerable. Of course this adds greatly to the value of
the conclusions, but it need not surprise us, because flint is
* Account of Danish Lapland, by Leems, Copenhagen, 1767. Translated in
Pinkerton’s Voyages, Vol. i., p. 396.
t Hall, Life with the Esquimaux, vol. ii. pp. 147, 176.
FLINT IMPLEMENTS.
249
so brittle, that implements made of it must have been easily
broken, and, in that case, the fragments would be thrown
away as useless, especially in a chalk district, where the
supply of flint would, of course, be practically inexhaustible.
Many implements, no doubt, would be left unfinished, having
been rendered useless, either by some misdirected blow, or
some flaw in the flint. Moreover, we should naturally expect
that in a bone-breccia of this nature, the flint-implements
would be relatively more abundant than in a Kjokkenmod-
ding. Each oyster furnishes but a single mouthful, so that
the edible portions evidently form a greater proportion of the
whole, in the mammalia than in the mollusca. The Kjok-
kenmoddings, therefore, would grow, cceteris paribus, more
rapidly than the bone-breccia, and supposing the flint-im-
plements to be equally numerous in both cases, they would,
of course, be more sparingly distributed in the former, than
in the latter.
The objects of stone found in the bone caves which we are
now considering, are flakes, both simple and worked, scrapers,
cores, awls, lance-heads, cutters, hammers, and mortar- stones.
The simple and worked flakes are, of course, very numer-
ous, but they do not call for any special observations. They
present the usual varieties of size and form.
Though less numerous than the flakes, the scrapers* are still
very abundant. On the whole they seem to me longer and
narrower than the usual Danish type. Some of them were
probably intended to be used in the hand, as both ends are
fashioned for scraping. These may be called double- scrapers.
Others were apparently fixed in handles, as the end opposite
to the scraper is broken, sometimes on one side, sometimes
on both, so as to form a tapering extremity, which may have
been fixed in a handle either of wood, bone, or horn. Many
* See ante, pp. 70, 71.
250
CAVES IN THE DORDOGNE.
of the flakes are also nipped off at one end, in the same
manner. Perhaps, as no trace of such a handle has yet been
discovered by MM. Christy and Lartet, wood was the material
used for this purpose.
Of course, where there was a manufactory of flint flakes,
the cores or nuclei, from which they were struck, must also be
present. I was, however, astonished at the number of them
in these caves ; during my short visit, I myself picked out
more than ninety.
Awls and saws are very much less frequent, but some few
good specimens have been found. At some of the stations,
curious flat implements (fig. 130) are met with. From the
constancy of their form, which, moreover, is somewhat pecu-
liar, we may safely infer that they were applied to some
Fio. 130.
Flint Awl.
definite purpose. For hammers, the reindeer hunters seem
to have used round stones, a good many of which occur
in the caves, and which bear unmistakeable marks of the
purpose to which they were applied. Some of them,
however, may have served also as heaters. The North
American Indians, the Esquimaux, and some other savages,
having no pottery, but only wooden vessels, which could
not be put on the fire, used to heat stones, and then place
them in the water which they wished to boil. Many of
the stones found in these caverns appear to have been
used in this manner.
FLINT IMPLEMENTS.
251
These, the commonest sorts of flint implements, are found
indiscriminately in all the grottoes, hut there are some other
types which appear to be less generally distributed. Thus,
at Laugerie and Badegoule, fragments of leaf-shaped lance-
heads, almost as well worked as some of those from Denmark,
are far from uncommon. If, therefore, we were to attempt
any classification of the grottoes, according to the periods of
their occupation, we might be disposed to refer these to a
somewhat later period than most of the others. On the con-
trary, to judge from the flint implements, the station at Le
Moustier would be the most ancient. Though it would per-
haps be premature to attempt any such classification, there
can be no doubt that Le Moustier presents some types not yet
found in the other caves, and resembling in some respects
those of the drift.
One of these peculiar forms has one side left unchipped, and
apparently intended to be held in the hand, while the other
has a cutting edge, produced by a number of small blows.
Some of these instruments are of large size, and they are
supposed by MM. Christy and Lartet to have been used for
cutting wood, and perhaps also the large bones of mammalia-
Another very interesting type is figured over-leaf (figs. 131-3).
This specimen is worked on both sides, but more frequently
one of them is left flat. MM. Christy and Lartet regard
this type as identical with the “ lance-head” implements
found in the drift. I cannot altogether agree with them
in this comparison. Not only are the Le Moustier specimens
smaller, but the workmanship is different, being much less
bold. Moreover, the flat surface (a) is no individual pecu-
liarity. It is very frequently, not to say generally, present,
and occurs also on the similar implement found by Mr.
Boyd Dawkins in the Hyaena den at Wokey Hole, and
figured by him in the Geological Journal, May, 1862, No.
70, p. 119. This very interesting type seems rather to be
252
CAVES IN THE DORDOGNE.
derived from the “ cutters” above described, in which case
its resemblance to the drift forms would be accidental and
insignificant. MM. Christy and Lartet indeed call the
implements of this type “ lanceheads,” but it may well be
Fig. 131. Fig. 132.
Flint Implement from Le Moustier.
doubted whether they were intended for use in this manner,
though there are specimens at Le Moustier which have all the
ABSENCE OF POLISHED IMPLEMENTS.
253
appearance of having been intended for this purpose. On the
whole, then, although these Le Moustier types are of great
interest, we must pause before we regard them as belonging
to the drift forms.
No polished implements have yet been found in any of these
caverns. Yet the collection made by the late M. Mourcin, in
the neighbourhood of Perigueux, contains, among 5025 ob-
jects of stone, no less than 3002 polished axes, of which,
however, many are imperfect. Doubtless, among the im-
mense variety of forms presented by the flint implements
from these caves, further study will distinguish other types,
and we may fairly hope that it will throw more light on
the purposes for which they were designed.
The station at Moustier has not as yet produced any im-
plements made of bone, but a good many have been obtained
from the other caves. “They consist of square chisel- shaped
implements ; round, sharply pointed, awl-like tools, some of
which also may have served as the spike of a fish-hook ; har-
poon shaped lanceheads ; plain or barbed arrow-heads with
many and double barbes, cut with wonderful vigour ; and
lastly, eyed needles of compact bone finely pointed, polished,
and drilled with round eyes so small and regular, that some
of the most assured and acute* believers in all the other find-
ings might well doubt whether they could indeed have been
drilled with stone, until their repetition by the hand of that
practical and conscientious observer, Monsieur Lartet, by the
very stone implements found with them, has dispelled their
honest doubts.”* Moreover, we must remember that the
New Zealanders were able with their stone tools to drill
holes even through glass. f
So far, then, with the exception, perhaps, of the well-
worked lanceheads of Laugerie and Badegoule, all the evi-
dence we have yet obtained from these caves points to a
* Trans. Ethnological Soc. N.S. vol. iii. f Cook’s First Voyage, p. 464.
2.04
CAVES IN THE DORDOGNE.
very primitive period, earlier even than that of the first Swiss
Lake-villages, or Danish shell-mounds. No fragments of
metal or of pottery have yet been found which can he re-
ferred with confidence to the Reindeer period.
But there is one class of objects in these caves which, taken
alone, would have led us to a very different conclusion. No
representation, however rude, of any animal or plant has yet
been found in any of the Danish shell-mounds, or the Stone-
age Lake- villages. Even on objects of the Bronze age, they
are so rare, that it is doubtful whether a single well authen-
ticated instance could be produced. Yet in these archaic
bone-caves, many very fair sketches have been found,
scratched on bone or stone with a sharp point, probably of
a flint implement. In some cases there is even an attempt
at shading. In the Annales des Sciences Naturellcs,* M.
Lartet had already made known to us some rude draw-
ings found in the Cave of Savigne, and in his last memoir
he has described and figured some more objects of a similar
character.
In the lower station at Laugcrie several of these drawings
have been found ; one represents a large herbivorous animal,
but unfortunately without the head or forelegs ; a second
also is apparently intended for some species of ox ; a third
represents a smaller animal, with vertical horns ; another is
evidently intended for a horse ; and a fifth is very interest-
ing, because, from the shape of the antlers and head, it is
evidently intended for a reindeer. Several similar drawings
have been obtained by M. de Lastic in a cave at Bruniquel.
But perhaps the most remarkable specimen of all is a
poniard, cut out of a reindeer’s horn (fig. 134). The
artist has ingeniously adapted the position of the animal to
the necessities of the case. The horns are thrown back on
* Ann. dcs Sc. Nat. 1861. Vol. xv.
RUDE DRAWINGS AND SCULPTURES.
255
the neck, the fore-legs are doubled up under the belly, and
the hind- legs are stretched out along the blade. Unfor-
tunately the poniard seems to have been thrown away before
Flo. 134.
Handle of a Poniard.
it was quite finished, but several of the details indicate that
the animal was intended for a reindeer. Although it is
natural to feel some surprise at finding these works of art,
still there are instances among recent savages of a certain
skill in drawing and sculpture, being accompanied by an
entire ignorance of metallurgy.
In considering the probable condition of these ancient
Cave-men, we must give them full credit for their love of
art, such as it was ; while, on the other hand, the want of
metal, of polished flint implements, and even of pottery ;* the
ignorance of agriculture, and the apparent absence of all
domestic animals, including even the dog, certainly imply
a very low state of civilisation, and a very considerable
antiquity.
There is also evidence that a considerable change of cli-
mate must have taken place. The reindeer is the most
abundant animal, and evidently formed the principal article
of food, while we know that this animal is now confined to
arctic climates, and could not exist in the south of France.
Again, the ibex and the chamois, both of which are now
restricted to the snowy summits of the Alps and Pyrenees,
* Pottery is, however, very rare in and is not by any means abundant in
the remains of the Irish Crannoges, the Danish shell-mounds.
256
HABITS OF THE CAVE-DWELLERS.
and a species of sperinopliilus, also point to tlie same con-
clusion. The presence of the two former species in some of
the Swiss Lake-dwellings is not equally significant, because
there they are in the neighbourhood of high mountains, hut
the highest hills of the Dordogne do not reach to an altitude
of much more than 800 feet.
Another very interesting species which has recently been
determined by M. Lartet, is the Antilope Saigo of Pallas,
which now abounds on the Steppes of North Eastern Europe
and Western Asia, in the plains of the Dnieper and the
Volga, round the shores of the Caspian and as far as the
Altai Mountains. Mr. Christy tells us that the northern
plains of Poland and the valley of the Dnieper are the
southern limits of this species at the present day.
Again, the accumulation of animal remains in these
caves is itself, as Mr. Christy has ingeniously suggested, a
good evidence of change in the climate. We know that the
Esquimaux at present allow a similar deposit to take place in
their dwellings, hut this can only he done in Arctic regions ;
in such a climate as that now existing in the south of F ranee,
such an accumulation would, except of course in the depth of
winter, soon become a mass of decomposition.
Doubtless the persevering researches of my friends MM.
Christy and Lartet will ere long throw more light on the
subject, and enable us to speak with greater confidence ; hut
so far as the present evidence is concerned, it appears to in-
dicate a race of men living almost as some of the Esquimaux
do now, and as the Laplanders did a few hundred years
ago ; and a period intermediate between that of the Polished
Stone implements and of the great extinct mammalia : ap-
parently also somewhat more ancient than that of the shell-
mound builders of Denmark. But if these Cave-men shall
eventually be shown to have been contemporaneous with the
cave-tiger, the cave-bear, the cave-hyaena, and the mammoth,
THE BELGIAN CAVES.
257
remains of which have been found in doubtful association
with them, then, indeed, they must he referred to an even
more remote period.*
That some of the European caves were inhabited by man
during the time of these extinct mammalia seems to be well
established.
Already in the year 1828 MM. Tournal and Christol, in
the south of France, had found fragments of pottery and
human bones and teeth, intermingled with remains of extinct
animals ; and M. Tournal expressly pointed out that these
had certainly not been washed in by any diluvial catastrophe,
but must have been introduced gradually. The presence of
pottery, however, throws much doubt on the supposed an-
tiquity of these remains.
A few years later, in 1833 and 1834, Dr. Schmerling f
published an account of his researches in some caves near
Liege in Belgium. In four or five of these he found human
bones, and in all of them rude implements, principally flint
flakes, were discovered, scattered in such a manner among
the remains of the mammoth, Rhinoceros tichorhinns, cave-
hysena, and cave-bear, that Dr. Schmerling referred them to
the same period. One feels a natural surprise that such
animals as these should ever have been natives of England
and France, ever have wandered about among our woods or
along our streams ; but when it was suggested that they were
contemporaries with man, surprise was succeeded by in-
credulity. Yet these cave-researches appear to have been
conducted with care, and the principal results have been
confirmed by more recent discoveries.
* From another . bone cave in the
south of France— that of Bruniquel—
M. le Vicomte de Lastic has made a
large collection, the greater part of
which is now in the British Museum.
As Professor Owen has undertaken the
description of this collection, I will say
nothing about it here.
f Rechcrches sur les ossements fos-
siles deeouvertes dans les cavemes de
la province de Liege. Par le Dr. P. C-
Schmerling.
17
258
Kent’s hole.
The hesitation, however, with which the statements of
Dr. Schmerling were received by scientific men arose no
doubt partly from the fact that some of the fossil remains
discovered by him were certainly referred to wrong species,
and partly because, with reference to several of the extinct
species, and especially to the mammoth, he expressed the
opinion that the remains had been brought from a distance,
and had very likely been washed out of some earlier bed.
“ Nous n’hesitons point,” he says, “ a exprimer ici notre
pensee, c’est que nous doutons fort que 1’elephant, lors de
l’epoque du rcmplissage de nos cavernes, habitat nos con-
trees. An contraire, nous crovons plutot que ces restes
ont ete amenes de loin, ou bien que ces debris ont ete
deplaces d’un terrain plus ancien et ont £te entraines dans
les cavernes.”
Even, therefore, though Dr. Schmerling might be quite
right in his conclusion that the human remains had been
“enfouis dans ces cavernes a la meme epoque, et. par con-
sequent par les memes causes qui y ont entraine une masse
d’osscments de difierentes especes eteintes,” still it would not
necessarily follow that man had lived at the same period as
these extinct species.
In the year 1840 Mr. Godwin Austen communicated
to the Geological Society a memoir on the Geology
of the South East of Devonshire,* and in his description
of Kent’s Hole, near Torquay, he says that “human re-
mains and works of art, such as arrow-heads and knives
of flint, occur in all parts of the cave and throughout the
entire thickness of the clay : and no distinction founded
on condition, distribution, or relative position, can be ob-
served, whereby the human can be separated from the
other reliquice,” which included bones of the “elephant,
* Transactions of the Geol. Soc. Ser. 2, vol. vi. p. 433.
BRIXHAM CAVE.
259
rhinoceros, ox, deer, horse, bear, hyaena, and a feline ani-
mal of large size.”
The value, he truly adds, “ of such a statement must rest
on the care with which a collector may have explored ; I
must therefore state that my own researches were constantly
conducted in parts of the cave which had never been dis-
turbed, and in every instance the bones were procured from
beneath a thick covering of stalagmite ; so far, then, the
bones and works of man must have been introduced into
the cave before the flooring of stalagmite had been
formed.” These statements, however, attracted little atten-
tion ; and the very similar assertions made by Mr. Vivian,
in a paper read before the Geological Society, were con-
sidered so improbable that the memoir containing them was
not published.
In May, 1858, Dr. Falconer called the attention of the
Geological Society to a newly-discovered cave at Brixham,
near Torquay, and a committee was appointed to assist him
in examining it. Grants of money were obtained for the
same object from the Royal Society and Miss Burdett Coutts.
In addition to Dr. Falconer, Mr. Pengclly, Mr. Prestwich,
and Professor Ramsay were intrusted with the investigations.
In September, 1858, a preliminary report was made to the
Geological Society, but it is very much to be regretted that
the results have not yet been published in extenso.
The deposits in the cave were, in descending order —
1 . Stalagmite of irregular thickness.
2. Ochreous cave earth with limestone breccia.
3. Ochreous cave earth with comminuted shale.
4. Rounded gravel.
The organic remains belonged to the following species : —
1. Rhinoceros tichorhinus. Teeth in considerable numbers
and an astragalus.
260
SICILIAN CAVES.
2. Bos sp. Teeth, jaws, and other bones.
3. Equus sp. A few remains.
4. Cervus tarandus. The reindeer — skull and horns.
5. Cervus sp. Horns.
6. Ursus spelceus — the cave-bear. Lower jaws, teeth,
and the bones of a hind leg.
7. Uycena spdcea. Lower jaws, teeth, fragments of
skulls, and other bones.
Several flint flakes were also found indiscriminately mixed
with these bones, and, according to all appearance, of the
same antiquity. They occurred at various depths, from ten
inches to eleven feet, and some of them were in the gravel,
below the whole of the ochreous cave-earth. One of them
was found close to the hones of the left hind leg of a cave-
bear. The remains comprised not only the femur, tibia, and
fibula, but even the kneepan and astragalus were in their
respective places. It is evident, therefore, that the limb
must have been imbedded while in a fresh condition, or at
least while the bones were held together by the ligaments.
As, then, they must have been deposited soon after the death
of the animal, it follows that, if man and the cave-bear were
not contemporaneous, the cave-bear was the more recent of
the two.
Again, in the grotto of Maccagnone, in Sicily, Dr. Falconer
found human traces, consisting of ashes and rude flint imple-
ments in a breccia containing bones of the Elephas antiquus,
of the hyaena, of a large Ursus, of a Felts (probably F. spdcea),
and especially with large numbers of bones belonging to the
hippopotamus. The “ ccneri irapastate,” or concrete of ashes
had at one time filled the cavern, and a large piece of bone
breccia was still cemented to the roof by stalagmite, but
owing to some change in the drainage, the greater part had
been cleared out again. The presence of the hippopotamus
sufficiently proves that the geographical conditions of the
SICILIAN CAVES.
261
country must have been very different from what they are
now ; but I cannot do better than quote Dr. Falconer’s own
summary of his observations in this case :
“ The vast number of Hippopotami implied that the phy-
sical condition of the country must have been greatly different,
at no very distant geological period, from what obtains now.
He considered that all deposits above the bone breccia had
been accumulated up to the roof by materials washed in from
above, through sinuous crevices or flues in the limestone, and
that the uppermost layer, consisting of the breccia of shells,
bone-splinters, siliceous objects, burnt clay, bits of charcoal,
and hyaena coprolites, had been cemented to the roof by
stalagmitic infiltration. The entire condition of the large
fragile Helices proved that the effect had been produced by
the tranquil agency of water, as distinct from any tumultuous
action. There was nothing to indicate that the different
objects in the roof breccia were other than of contemporaneous
origin : subsequently a great physical alteration in the con-
tour, altering the flow of superficial water and of the sub-
terranean springs, changed all the conditions previously
existing, and emptied out the whole of the loose incoherent
contents, leaving only the portions agglutinated to the roof.
The wreck of these ejecta was visible in the patches of
‘ ceneri impastati,’ containing fossil bones, below the mouth
of the cavern. That a long period must have operated in
the extinction of the hyaena, cave-lion, and other fossil
speciqs, is certain, but no index remains for its measurement.
The author would call the careful attention of cautious
o-coloo-ists to the inferences — that the Maccagnone Cave was
filled up to the roof within the human period, so that a
thick layer of bone - splinters, teeth, landshells, hyaenas’
coprolites, and human objects, was agglutinated to the roof
bv the infiltration of water holding lime in solution. That,
subsequently, and within the human period, such a great
262
GIBRALTAR CAVES.
amount of change took place in the physical configuration
of the district as to have caused the cave to be washed
out and emptied of its contents, excepting the patches of
material cemented to the roof and since coated with addi-
tional stalagmite.”
Similar proofs of great and recent geographical changes
have been afforded by the examination of certain Spanish
caves. In the Genista Cave at Gibraltar Mr. Busk and
Dr. Falconer have discovered Jli/cena brunnea, an existing
African species, the leopard, lynx, serval, and Barbary
stag. M. Lartet has also determined molars of the existing
African elephant among some bones found in a cave near
Madrid.
M. Lartet* has described with his usual ability a very
interesting grotto, or small cave, which was discovered some
years ago at Aurignac, in the south of France.. A peasant
named Bonnemaison,. seeing a rabbit rim into a hole on a
steep slope, put his hand in, and to his surprise pulled out a
human 'bone. Curiosity urged linn to explore farther, and
on removing a quantity of rubbish, he found a large block
of stone, which almost closed up the entrance to a small
chamber, in which were no less than seventeen human
skeletons. Unfortunately for science,, the mayor of Au-
rignac, hearing of these discoveries, collected the human
bones, had them reburied, and when M. Lartet some years
afterwards explored the cavern, they could not be found
again. *
After carefully examining the locality, M. Lartet came to
the conclusion that this small cavern had been used as a
burial place, and from the remains of bones broken for
marrow, and marks of fire immediately outside the cave, he
inferred that feasts had been held there.
* Ann. des Sc. Nat. 1861, p. 177.
AURIGNAC.
263
The following is the list of species determined by M. Lartet,
together with the approximate number of individuals belong-
ing to each : —
Number of individual
1. Cave Bear ( Units spelmis) 5 — 6
2. Brown Bear [U. arctos ?) 1
3. Badger ( Meles taxus) 1 — 2
4. Polecat ( Putorius vulgaris ) 1
5. Cave Lion {Felts spelcea ) 1
6. Wild Cat (F. catus ) 1
7. Hyaena ( Hya?na spelcea ) 5 — 6
8. Wolf [Cants Lupus) !... 3
9. Fox [C. vulpes ) 18 — 20
10. Mammoth [Elephas primigenius) .
Two molars and an astragalus
11. Rhinoceros [Rhinoceros tichorhinus ) ... 1
12. Horse [Equus caballus ) 12 — 15
13. Ass ?* [E. asinus ) 1
14. Boar [Sus scrofa). Two incisors
15. Sta g [Cervus elaphus) 1
16. Irish Elk [Megaceros hibernicus) 1
17. Roe [C. capreolus) 3 — 4
18. Reindeer [C. tarandus) 10 — 12
19. Aurochs [Bison Europeans ) 12 — 15
Some of these were found in the grotto, others outside ; the
latter had been gnawed by some large carnivorous animal, no
doubt the hyaena, coprolites of which were found among the
ashes. On the other hand, the bones inside the cave were
untouched, from which M. Lartet concludes that after the
funeral feasts, hyaenas came and devoured all that had been
left by the men, but that they could not effect an entrance
into the cave on account of the large block of stone by which
* There must surely be some mistake about this species. The query is in the
original.
2G4
AURIGNAC.
the entrance was closed, and which was actually found in its
place by Bonnemaison.
In addition to the hyaena, the animals occurring in this
list, and yet no longer existing, or known historically to have
existed, in France, are the reindeer, cave-bear, rhinoceros,
cave-lion, Irish elk, and mammoth. The contemporaneity
of the reindeer with man is very evident ; all the bones are
broken for marrow, and many bear the marks of knives,
besides which, the greater number of the bone implements
are made out of the bones or horns of this species. That the
rhinoceros also was contemporaneous with man is inferred
by M. Lartet, firstly, on chemical grounds, the bones of
this species, as well as those of the reindeer, aurochs, etc.,
having retained the same amount of nitrogen as the human
bones from the same locality ; and secondly, because the bones
appear to have been broken by man, and in some cases are
marked by knives. Moreover, he has ingeniously pointed
out that these bones must have belonged to an individual
recently killed, because, after having been broken by man,
they were gnawed by the hyaenas, Which would not have
been the case if they had not been fresh and still full of
their natural juices.
The elephant was represented only by some detached
plates of molars and a calcaneum. This latter was the
only gnawed bone found in the interior of the grotto. It
cannot be doubted that these plates were purposely sepa-
rated, and the calcaneum appears to have been placed in
the vault at the time of the last interments ; but there is
no evidence that it was then in a fresh condition. Indeed,
the fact of its being gnawed seems rather to point the
other way.
Remains of the Ursus spelmis (cave-bear) were much more
abundant, and some of them were found in the grotto. In
one case a whole limb appears to have been buried with the
WOKEY HOLE.
265
flesh on, as the different bones were all found together. It is
well known that food and drink were in ancient times fre-
quently buried with the dead, and M. Lartet thinks that we
may account in this manner for the bones of quadrupeds
found in the grotto at Aurignac,
In this case, then, it would seem that we have a sepulture
belonging to the period at which the cave-bear, the reindeer,
the Irish elk, the woolly-haired rhinoceros, and the mam-
moth, still lived in the south of France. It is, however, very
much to be regretted that M. Lartet was not present when
the place was first examined, for it must be confessed that if
he had seen the deposits before they were disturbed, we
should have been able to feel more confidence that the
human skeletons belonged to the same period as the other
remains.
Another instructive case is that of the Hyaena-den at
Wokey Hole, near Wells, which has been ably explored and
described by Mr. Boyd Dawkins.* In this case the cave was
filled with debris up to the Very roof, and it appears that the
accumulation of material has taken place partly by the dis-
integration of the dolomitic conglomerate forming the roof
and walls of the cavern, and partly by the sediment washed
in gradually by rain and small streams. It is evident that
the bones and stones were not brought into the cave by the
action of water ; firstly, because none of the bones are at all
rolled ; secondly, because, though several rude flint imple-
ments were found in the cave, only one single unworked flint
was met with ; and, thirdly, because, in some cases, fragments
of the same bone have been found close together, while, if
they had been brought from a distance, it is almost incredible
that they should have been again deposited close to one
another. Again, there are several layers — one over the other
* Geol. Journal, May, 1862, p. 116,
266
CAVE-MEN.
— of album graecum, that is to say, the excrement of hyaenas.
Each of these indicates, of course, an old floor, and a sepa-
rate period of occupation ; so that the presence of, at least,
one such floor above some of the flint implements, proves
two things ; firstly, that the hyaenas which produced the
album graecmn occupied the cave after the savages who
used the flint instruments ; and, secondly, that these im-
plements have not been disturbed by water since the period
of the hyaena.
As regards the Cave-men themselves, we have, unfor-
tunately, but very little information. Indeed, although
fragmentary human bones have been frequently foimd, there
are, as yet, only two cases on record in which the caves have
furnished us with skulls in such a condition as to allow of
restoration. One of these was found by Dr. Schmerling in
the Cave of Engis, near Liege; the other, by Dr. Fuhlrott,
in the Neanderthal, near Dusseldorf ; .they will be described
in a subsequent chapter.
It would manifestly be highly imprudent to generalise
from two specimens, even if they agreed in their characters,
and if their antiquity were undoubted. But it so happens
that as regards the Neanderthal specimen, the evidence of
antiquity is far from conclusive, and that the two skulls are
very dissimilar.
On the whole, therefore, though we cannot as yet deter-
mine what variety or varieties of men then existed, we find
in the bone-eaves sufficient evidence that man was coeval in
Europe with the great group of quaternary mammalia. We
see, indeed, that the presence, in bone-caves, of ancient
implements and human remains, associated with those of
extinct mammalia, is no rare or exceptional phenomenon.
Nor if we look at the question from a scientific point of
view, is there any thing in this that ought to excite our
astonishment. Since the period at which these caves
CAVE-MEN.
267
were filled up, the changes which have taken place have
resulted rather in the extinction, than in the creation of
species. The stag, horse, hoar, dog, in short, all our
existing forms of mammalia, were already in existence,
and there would have been in reality more just cause for
surprise if man alone had been unrepresented,
268
'CHAPTER IX.
'ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN
HILE we have been straining our eyes to the East,
and eagerly watching excavations in Egypt and
Assyria, suddenly a new light has arisen in the midst of us ;
and the oldest relics of man yet discovered have occurred,
not among the ruins of Nineveh or Heliopolis, not on the
sandy plains of the Nile or the Euphrates, but in the pleasant
valleys of England and France, along the banks of the Seine
and the Somme, the Thames and the Waveney.
So unexpected were these discoveries, so irreconcileable
with even the greatest antiquity until lately assigned to the
human race, that they were long regarded with neglect and
suspicion. M. Boucher de Perthes, to whom we are so much
indebted for this great step in the history of mankind, ob-
served, as long ago as the year 1841, in some sand con-
taining mammalian remains, at Menchecourt, near Abbeville,
a flint, rudely fashioned into a cutting instrument. In the
following years other weapons were found under similar
circumstances, and especially during the formation of the
Champ de Mars at Abbeville, where a large quantity of
gravel was moved and many of the so-called “ hatchets” were
discovered. In the year 1846 M. Boucher de Perthes pub-
lished his first work on the subject, entitled “De l’lndustrie
Primitive, ou les Arts et leur Origine.” In this he announced,
M. BOUCHER DE PERTHES.
269
that he had found human implements in beds unmistakeably
belonging to the age of the drift. In his “Antiquites Cel-
tiques et Ant4diluviennes” (1847), he also gave numerous
illustrations of these stone weapons, but imfortunately the
figures were so small as scarcely to do justice to the originals.
For seven years M. Boucher de Perthes made few converts ;
he was looked upon as an enthusiast, almost as a madman.
At length, in 1853, Dr. Rigollot, till then sceptical, examined
for himself the drift at the now celebrated St. Acheul, near
Amiens, found several weapons, and believed. Still the new
creed met with but little favor ; prophets are proverbially
without honor in their own country, and M. Boucher de
Perthes was no exception to the rule. At last, however, the
tide turned in his favor. Dr. Falconer, passing through
Abbeville, visited his collection, and made known the result
of his visit to Mr. Joseph Prestwich, who, with Mr. John
Evans, proceeded to Abbeville. I have always regretted
that I was unable to accompany my friends on this occasion.
They examined carefully not only the flint weapons, but also
the beds in which they were found. For such an investiga-
tion our two countrymen were especially qualified : Mr.
Prestwich, from his long examination and great knowledge
of the tertiary and quaternary strata ; and Mr. Evans, as
having devoted much study to the stone implements belong-
ing to what we must now consider as the second, or at least
the more recent, Stone period. On their return to England
Mr. Prestwich communicated the results of his visit to the
Royal Society,* while Mr. Evans described the implements
themselves in the Transactions of the Society of Anti-
quaries. f
* On the Occurrence of Flint Implements associated with the Remains of Ex-
tinct Species, in Beds of a late Geological Period, May 19, 1859. Phil. Trans.
1860.
f Flint Implements in the Drift. Archaeologia, 1860-62.
270
MESSRS. PRESTWICH AND EVANS.
Shortly afterwards Mr. Prestwich returned to Amiens and
Abbeville, accompanied by Messrs. Godwin- Austen, J. W.
Flower," and R. W. Mvlne, and in the same year Sir Charles
Lyell visited the now celebrated localities. In 1860 I made
my first visit with Mr. Busk and Captain Galton, under the
guidance of Mr. Prestwich, while Sir Roderick Murchison,
Professors Henslow, Ramsay, Rogers, Messrs. H. Christy,
Rupert Jones, James Wyatt, and other geologists, followed
on the same errand. M. L’Abbe Cochet, therefore, in his
“ Rapport adresse a Monsieur le Senateur Prefet de la Seine-
Inferieure” (1860), does no more than justice to our coun-
trymen, when after a well-merited tribute of praise to M.
Boucher de Perthes and Dr. Rigollot, he adds, “ Mais ce sont
les Geologues Anglais, en tete desquels il faut placer d’abord
MM, Prestwich et Evans .... qui .... out fini par Clever a
la dignite de fait scientifique la decouverte de M. Boucher
de Perthes.”
Soon after his return, Mr. Prestwich addressed a commu-
nication to the Academy of Sciences, through M. Elie de
Beaumont, in which he urged the importance of these dis-
coveries, and expressed a hope that they would stimulate
“ les geologues de tous les pays a une etude encore plus
approfondie des terrains quaternaires.” The subject being
thus brought prominently before the geologists of Paris,
M. Gaudry, well known for his interesting researches in
Greece, was sent to examine the weapons themselves, and
the localities in which they were found.
M. Gaudry was so fortunate as to find several flint weapons
in situ, and his report, which entirely confirmed the state-
ments made by M. Boucher de Perthes, led others to visit
the valley of the Somme, among whom I may mention MM.
de Quatrefagcs, Lartet, Collomb, Hebert, de Verneuil, and
G. Pouchet.
In the “Antiquites Celtiques,” M. Boucher de Perthes
SPECIMEN DISCOVERED IN THE LAST CENTURY. 271
suggested some gravel pits near Grenelle at Paris, as being,
from their position and appearance, likely places to contain
flint implements. M. Gosse, of Geneva, has actually found
flint implements in these pits, being the first discovery
of this nature in the valley of the Seine.* In that of
the Oise, a small hatchet has been found by M. Peigne
Delacourt, at Precy, near Creil.
Nor have these discoveries been confined to France. There
has long been in the British Museum a rude stone weapon,
described as follows : — “ No. 246. A British weapon, found
with elephant’s tooth, opposite to black Mary’s, near Grayes
inn lane. Conyers. It is a large black flint, shaped into the
figure of a spear’s point.” Mr. Evans tells us, moreover,
(l.c. p. 22) “ that a rude engraving of it illustrates a letter
on the Antiquities of London, by Mr. Bagford, dated
1715, printed in ITearne’s edition of Leland’s Collectanea,
vol. i. 6, p. lxiii. From his account it seems to have been
found with a skeleton of an elephant in the presence
of Mr. Conyers.” This most interesting weapon agrees
exactly with some of those found in the valley of the
Somme.
Mr. Evans, on his return from Abbeville, observed in the
museum belonging to the Society of Antiquaries, some speci-
mens exactly like those in the collection of M. Boucher de
Perthes. On examination, it proved that they had been pre-
sented by Mr. Frere, who found them with bones of extinct
animals in a gravel pit at Hoxne in Suffolk, and had well
described and figured them in the Archseologia for the year
1800. This communication is of so much interest that I
* M. L’Abbe Cochet states {l.c. p. 8)
that similar weapons have been found
at Sotteville, near Rouen, and are de-
posited in the Musce d’Antiquites.
There seems, however, to be some
mistake about these specimens ; at least
M. Pouchet, who received us at Rouen
with the greatest courtesy, was quite
unaware of any such discovery.
272
MR. FREKe’S DISCOVERY
have thought it desirable to reproduce his figures, reduced
one- half (figs. 135-138).
Again, twenty- five years ago, Mr. Whitburn, of Godaiming,*
Fio. 135. Fl°- 13r>-
Flint Implement from Hoxne.
while examining the gravel pits between Guildford and
Godaiming, remarked a peculiar flint, which he carried away,
and has since preserved in his collection. It belongs to the
“drift” type, but is very rude. Thus, this peculiar type of
flint implement has been actually found in association with
the bones of the mammoth on various occasions during
nearly a hundred and fifty years ! While, however, these
instances remarkably corroborate the statements made by M.
* Prestwich, Geol. Jour. August, 1861.
in 1800. 273
Boucher cle Perthes, they in no way detract from the credit
due to that gentleman.
In addition to the above-mentioned, similar hatchets have
Fl0, 137- Fio. 138.
Flint Implement from Iloxne.
been already found in Suffolk, Kent, Bedfordshire, Hertford-
shire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, and elsewhere. In the first of
18
274
SIMILAR DISCOVERIES IN OTHER COUNTIES.
these counties, Hr. Warren, of Ixworth, found one on a heap
of gravel near Icklingham, which having been accidentally
seen by Mr. Evans led to the discovery of numerous other
specimens. One of these specimens closely resembles the one
represented in pi. 1, fig. 10, which was given to me by M.
Marcotte of Abbeville, who obtained it from Moulin Quignon.
The next discovery was made by Mr. Leech, on the shore
between Herne Bay and Reculvers, whence many specimens
have been obtained, six by Mr. Leech, and others by Messrs.
Evans, Prestwich and Wyatt. In the gravel near Bedford,
again associated with the remains of the mammoth, rhino-
ceros, hippopotamus, ox, horse, and deer, Mr. Wyatt* has
found flint implements resembling both of the two principal
types found at Abbeville and Amiens. This case is very
interesting, because it shows that the drift flint hatchets are
subsequent to the boulder clay ; the Bedford valley being
cut through hills capped by a deposit of that period. At
lloxne the bed containing flint implements appear actually
to rest on the boulder clay.
Mr. Evans himself, near Abbot’s Langley, in Hertford-
shire, has picked up on the surface of a field a weathered
hatchet with the top broken olf, but otherwise identical in
form with the spearhead-shaped specimens from Amiens
and Herne Bay.
Another implement of the round pointed form lias been
discovered in Kent (Nov. 1861), on the surface of the ground
at the top of the hill on the east side of the Darent, about
a mile E.S.E. of Horton Kirby, by Mr. Whitaker, F.G.S., of
the Geological Survey ;”f and several more have since been ob-
tained by Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Hughes. Mr. II. G. Norman
found a single specimen in Kent, near Greenstrect Green, a
* Flint Implements in the Drift. By J. Wyatt. Bedfordshire Architectural
and Archmological Society, 1862.
f Evans’ Areliacologia, 1861, p. 18.
CAUTION OF GEOLOGISTS.
275
locality whicli is interesting as having produced remains,
not only of the mammoth, but also of the musk ox.
Since my first visit in 1860, I have been several times to
the Valley of the Somme, and have examined all the prin-
cipal pits : though I have never met with a perfect hatchet,
I have found two implements, which were quite unmistake-
able, though rude and fragmentary.
But why, it may be asked, should the history of this
question be thus recounted ? Why should it be treated dif-
ferently from any other scientific discovery ? The answer
is not difficult. That the statement by Mr. Frere has been
neglected for more than half a century ; that the weapon
found by Mr. Conyers has lain unnoticed for more than double
that time ; that the discoveries by M. Boucher de Perthes
have been ignored for fifteen years ; that the numerous cases
in which caves have contained the remains of men together
with those of extinct animals have been suppressed or ex-
plained away : * are facts which show how deeply rooted
was the conviction that man belonged altogether to a more
recent order of things ; and, whatever other accusation may
be brought against them, geologists can at least not be said
to have hastily accepted the theory of the coexistence of the
human race with the now extinct Pachydermata of Northern
Europe.
Though, however, the distinguished geologists to whom I
have referred, have all, with one exception, expressed them-
selves more or less strongly as to the great antiquity of these
curious weapons, still, I do not wish that they should be
received as judges; I only claim the right to summon them
as witnesses.
* It is not yet ten years since a com- Vivian, that worked flints occurred in
munication from the Torquay Natural Kent’s Hole with remains of extinct
History Society, confirming the state- species, was rejected as too improbable
ments made long before by Mr. Godwin for publication.
Austen, the Rev. Mr. M‘Enery and Mr.
276
THE QUESTIONS AT ISSUE.
The questions to be decided may be stated as follows : —
1st. Are the so-called flint implements of human work-
manship ?
2ndlv. Are the flint implements of the same age as the
beds in which they are found, and the bones of the extinct
animals with which they occur ?
3rdly. What are the conditions under which these beds
were deposited? and how far are we justified in imputing to
them a great antiquity ?
To the first two of these questions an affirmative answer
would be given, almost unanimously, by those geologists who
have given any special attention to the subject. Fortunately,
however, for the sake of the discussion, there is one exception ;
Blackwood’s Magazine for October, 1860, contains an able
article in which the last two questions are maintained to be
still unanswered, and in which, therefore, a verdict of “ Not
Proven ” is demanded. Not, indeed, that there is any dif-
ference of opinion as to the weapons themselves. “They
bear,” admits the writer (p. 438), “unmistakeably the indica-
tions of having been shaped by the skill of man.” “ For more
than twenty years,” says another competent witness — Prof.
Ramsay, “ I have daily handled stones, whether fashioned by
nature or art, and the flint hatchets of Amiens and Abbeville
seem to me as clearly works of art as any Sheffield whittle.”*
But best of all, an hour or two spent in examining the
forms of ordinary flint gravel, would, I am sure, convince
any man that these stones, rude though they be, are unde-
niably fashioned by the hand of man.
Still, it might be supposed that they were forgeries, made by
ingenious workmen to entrap unwary geologists. They have,
however, been found by Messrs. Boucher de Perthes, Ilenslow,
Christy, Flower, Wyatt, Evans, myself, and others. One seen,
though not found by himself in situ , is thus described by
* Athenaeum, July 1G, 1859.
EVIDENCE DERIVABLE FROM THE FLINTS THEMSELVES. 277
Mr. Prestwich : “ It was lying flat in the gravel at a depth of
seventeen feet from the original surface, and six and a half
from the chalk. One side slightly projected. The gravel
around was undisturbed, and presented its usual perpendicular
face. I carefully examined the specimen, and saw no reason
to doubt that it was in its natural position, for the gravel is
generally so loose, that a blow with a pick disturbs and brings
it down for some way around ; and the matrix is too little
adhesive to admit of its being built up again as before with the
same materials I found also afterwards, on taking out the
flint, that it was the thinnest side which projected, the other
side being less finished and much thicker.”* But evidence of
this nature, though interesting, is unnecessary ; the flints speak
for themselves. Those which have lain in siliceous or chalky
sands are more or less polished and have a beautiful glossiness
of surface, very unlike that of a newly-broken flint. In
ochreous sand, “especially if argillaceous, they are stained
yellow, whilst in ferruginous sands and clays they assume a
brown colour,” and in some beds they become white and
porcelanous. In many cases, moreover, they have incrusta-
tions of carbonate of lime and small dendritic markings.
Freshly- broken chalk flints, on the contrary, are of a dull
black or leaden color ; they vary a little in darkness but not
in color, and do not present white or yellow faces ; moreover,
the new surfaces are dead, and want the glossiness of those
which have been long exposed. It is almost unnecessary to
say, that they have no dendritic markings, nor are they
incrusted by carbonate of lime.
Now the forgeries — for there are forgeries — differ from the
genuine implements by just those characters which distinguish
newly-broken flints from those which have lain long in sand
or gravel, or exposed to atmospheric agencies. They are
black ; never white or yellow ; their surfaces are not glossy,
* Phil. Trans. 1860, p. 292.
278
THE FORGERIES.
but dull and lustreless, and they have no dendritic markings
or incrustations. Nor would it be possible for an in-
genious rogue to deceive us by taking a stained flint and-
fashioning it into a hatchet ; because the discoloration of the
flint is quite superficial, seldom more than a quarter of an
inch in thickness, and follows the outline of the present
surface, showing that the change of color was subsequent to
the manufacture ; while if such a flint was tampered with,
the fraud would be easily detected, as each blow would
remove part of the outer coating, and expose the black flint
inside, as may be seen in pi. 1, fig. 11.
Moreover, it must be remembered, that when M. Boucher
de Perthes’ work was published, the weapons therein de-
scribed were totally unlike any familiar to archaeologists.
Since that time, however, not only have similar implements
been found both in England and France, but, as already
mentioned, it has since come to light that similar weapons
were in two cases actually described and figured in England
many years ago, and that in both these instances they were
found in association with the bones of extinct animals. On
this point, therefore, no evidence could be more conclusive.
We may, then, pass on to the second subject, and consider,
Whether the Flint implements are as old as the beds in
which they occur, and as the remains of extinct mammalia
with which they are associated.
It has been suggested by some writers, that though they
are really found in the mammalifcrous gravel, they may be
comparatively recent, and belong really to the Neolithic or
later Stone age, but have gradually sunk down from above
by their own weight, or perhaps have been buried in artificial
excavations. There are, however, no cracks or fissures by
which the hatchets could have reached their present positions,
and the strata are “altogether too compact and immoveable
to admit of any such insinuation or percolation of surface
PECULIARITIES OF THE DRIFT IMPLEMENTS.
279
objects.* Nor could any ancient excavations have been made
and filled in again without leaving evident traces of the
change. Moreover, we may in this case also appeal to the
flint implements themselves, which, as we have already seen,
agree in color and appearance with the gravel in which they
occur ; and it seems, therefore, only reasonable to infer that
they have been subjected to the same influences. Moreover,
if they belonged to the later Stone period, and had found
their way by any accident into these gravels, then they ought
to correspond with the other flint implements of the Stone
period. But this is not the case. The flakes, indeed, offer no
peculiarities of form. Similar splinters of flint, or obsidian, have
been used from the want of metal by savage tribes in almost
all ages and all countries. The other implements, on the con-
trary, are very characteristic. All those hitherto discovered
are made of flint, whereas many other minerals, such, for in-
stance, as serpentine, jade, clayslate, etc., were used in the later
Stone age. Their forms are also peculiar ; some are oval
(pi. 1, fig. 11), chipped up to an edge all round, and from two
to eight or nine inches in length. They suggest the idea of
slingstones, but some of them at least seem too large for such
a purpose. A second type is also oval, but somewhat pointed
at one end (pi. 1, fig. 10, and figs. 135, 136). Others again
figs. 137, 138) have a more or less heavy butt end and are
pointed at the other. Mr. Evans seems to regard these f as
having served as spear or lance heads. He treats as a mere
variety of this type those implements in which the cutting
end is rounded off but not pointed. Some of these were
evidently intended to be held in the hand, and probably
served a different purpose ; they may, I think, fairly be con-
sidered as a fourth type, though it must be confessed that all
these types rim very much into one another, and in any
large collection many intermediate forms may be found. The
♦ Blackwood, l.c. f l.c. 1860, p. 11,
280
drift implements never polished.
smaller end is, in all cases, the one adapted for cutting,
while the reverse is almost invariably the case in the oval
celts of the Neolithic Stone age (figs. 71 and 72).
Again, the flint implements of the drift are never polished
or ground, hut are always left rough. We may safely esti-
mate that three thousand at least have been already found
in the drift gravels of England and France, and of this large
number there is not one which shows a trace of polishing or
grinding ; while we know that the reverse was almost always
the case with the celts of the later Stone period. It is true
that the latter is not an invariable rule ; thus, in Denmark
there are two forms of so-called “axes” which are left rough
— namely, the small triangular axes of the Kj okkenmoddings
(figs. 81-83) which are invariably so, and the large square-
sided axes with which this is often the case. But these two
forms of implements resemble in no other way those which
are found in the drift, and could not for a moment be mis-
taken for them. It is not going too far to say, that there is
not a single well-authenticated instance of a “celt” being
found in the drift, or of an implement of the drift type being
discovered either in a tumulus, or associated with remains of
the later Stone age.
It is useless to speculate upon the use made of these rude
yet venerable weapons. Almost as well might we ask, to what
use could they not be applied ? Numerous and specialised
as are our modern instruments, who would care to describe
the exact use of a knife ? But the primitive savage had no
such choice of weapons ; we see before us perhaps the whole
contents of his workshop ; and with these implements, rude as
they seem to us, he may have cut down trees, scooped them
out into canoes, grubbed up roots, attacked his enemies, killed
and cut up his food, made holes through the ice in winter,
prepared firewood, etc. When, however, we shall have con-
sidered the physical evidence as to the then condition of the
ABSENCE OF HUMAN BONES.
281
country, and the contemporary animals, we shall be better
able to form an idea of the habits of these our ancient and
long lost progenitors.
If we except the Moulin Quignon jaw, of which the au-
thenticity is, to say the least, very doubtful, no bones of
men have up to the present time been found in the strata
containing the flint implements. This, though it has ap-
peared to some so inexplicable as to throw a doubt on
the whole question, is, on consideration, less extraordinary
than it might at first sight appear to be. If, for instance,
we turn to other remains of human settlements, we shall
find a repetition of the same phenomenon. Thus in the
Danish refuse-heaps, where worked flints are a thousand
times more plentiful than in the St. Acheul gravel, human
bones are of the greatest rarity. At this period, as in the
Drift age, mankind lived by hunting and fishing, and
could not, therefore, be very numerous. In the era, how-
ever, of the Swiss Lake-habitations, the case was different.
M. Troy on estimates the population of the “Pfahlbauten ”
during the Stone age as about 32,000 ; in the Bronze
era, 42,000. On these calculations, indeed, even their
ingenious author would not probably place much reliance :
still, the number of the Lake-villages already known is
very considerable; in four of the Swiss lakes only, more
than seventy have been discovered, and some of them were
of great extent: TVangen, for instance, being, according to
M. Lolile, supported on more than 40,000 piles. Yet, if we
exclude a few bones of children, human remains have been
obtained from these settlements in five cases only. The num-
ber of flint, implements obtained hitherto from the drift of the
Somme valley, is not supposed to have greatly exceeded 3000 ;*
* One of the tumuli in the Missis- implements. This, however, must have
sippi Valley is estimated to have alone been a very exceptional case,
contained nearly four thousand stone
282
CAUSES OF THE
the settlement at Concise alone (Lake of Neufchatel) has
supplied about 24,000, and yet has not produced a single
human skeleton.* Probably this absence of bones is in
part attributable to the habit of burying or burning; the
instinct of man has long been in most cases to bury his dead
out of his sight ; still, so far as the drift of St. Acheul is
concerned, the difficulty will altogether disappear if we
remember that no trace has ever yet been found of any animal
as small as a man. The larger and more solid bones of the
elephant and hippopotamus, the ox, horse, and stag f remain,
but every vestige of the smaller bones has perished. No one
supposes that this scanty list fairly represents the mammalian
fauna of this time and place. When we find the remains of the
wolf, boar, roedeer, badger, and other animals which existed
during the drift period, then, and not till then, we may per-
haps begin to wonder at the entire absence of human skeletons.
We must also remember that when man lived on the
produce of the chase there must have been a very large
number of wild animals to each hunter. Among the Lap-
landers, 100 reindeer is the smallest number on which a
man can subsist, and no one is considered rich who does not
possess at least from 300 to 500. But these are domesti-
cated, and a large supply of nourishment is derived from their
milk. In the case of wild animals we may safely assume
* Rapport a la Commission des Mu-
sees, October, 1861, p. 16.
t The bones of the stag owe their
preservation perhaps to another cause.
Prof. Riitimeyer tells us that among
the bones from the Pfahlbauten none
are in better condition than those of
the stag ; this is the consequence, he
says, of their “ dichten Gefiige, ihrer
Hiirte und Sprodigkeit, so wie der
grossen Fettlosigkeit,” peculiarities
which recommended them so strongly
to the men of the Stone age, that they
used them in preference to all others,
nay almost exclusively, in the manu-
facture of those instruments which
could be made of bone — (Fauna der
Pfahlbauten, p. 12). How common the
hones of the stag are in quaternary
strata, geologists know, and we have
here, perhaps, an explanation of the
fact. The antler of the reindeer is also
preferred at the present day by the
Esquimaux in the manufacture of their
stone weapons. (Sir E. Belcher, Trans.
Ethn. Soc. vol. i. p. 139.)
SCARCITY OF HUMAN BONES.
283
that even a larger number would be necessary. Again, the
Hudson’s Bay territory is said to comprise about 900,000,000
acres. The number of Indians is estimated at 139,000.
Allowing one wild animal to each twenty acres, this would
give about 300 animals to each Indian ; and again, if we
consider the greater longevity of man, we must multiply this
by six, or even more. Thus, then, it seems evident that the
bones of animals are likely to be many hundred times more
common than those of man in these gravels.
As yet we have but partly answered the second of the two
questions with which we started. Even admitting that the
flint hatchets are coeval with the gravel in which they occur,
it remains to be shown that the bones of the extinct animals
belong also to the same period. This has been doubted by
some geologists, who have suggested that they may have
been washed out of earlier strata.
Taking the river-drift gravels as a whole, the following are
the mammalia, bones of which have been found in them :
The mammoth, Elephas primigenius, Blum.
„ antiquus, Falconer.
Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Cuv.
„ megarhinus . Christol.
Hippopotamus major, Nesti.
Ovibos moschatus, Blain.
Bos primigcnius, Boj.
Bison prisons, Boj.
Equus fossilis, Owen.
Cervus euryceros, Aldr.
„ elaphus, Linn.
„ tarandus, Linn.
Vrsus spelceus, Blum.
Felis spelcea, Owen.
Hyaena spelcea , Cuv.
Bus
The musk ox,
The urus,
The aurochs,
The reindeer,
284
CONTEM PORANIETY OF
Most of these species are now extinct. Some few, as the
Bos primigenius and Bison prisons, have come down to historic
times ; the reindeer, even now, abounds in the north ; but
only one, the stag, still occurs wild in Western Europe. If
these bones, then, belonged to a period earlier than that of
the gravel, where, we may ask, are the remains of the ani-
mals which did exist at that time? Moreover, the bones,
though sometimes much worn and broken, are at others, and
even according to Mr. Prestwich, “as a general rule* either
not rolled at all, or are slightly so.”
Secondly, these species, and particularly the mammoth and
the woolly-haired rhinoceros, are the characteristic and com-
monest species of these beds, not only in the Yalley of the
Somme, but in all the drift gravels of England and France;
while if they belonged in reality to an earlier period, they
would not occur so constantly, and they would be accompanied
by other species characteristic of earlier times.
Thirdly, the materials forming the drift gravels of the
Somme Yalley have all been obtained from the present area
of drainage, and there are in this district no older beds, from
which the remains of these extinct mammalia could possibly
have been derived. There are, indeed, outliers of tertiary
strata, but the mammalian remains found in them belong to
other, and much older species.
Fourthly, as regards the rhinoceros, we have the express
testimony of M. Baillon, that on one occasion all the bones
of a hind leg were found in their natural positions, at
Menchecourt near Abbeville, while the rest of the skeleton
was found at a little distance. In this case, therefore, the
animal must have been entombed before the ligaments had
decayed away.
Finally, as regards the same animal, M. Lartet assures
* Phil. Trans, l.c. p. 300.
THE MAMMALIAN REMAINS.
285
us* that some of the hones bear the marks of flint im-
plements ; nay more than this, he has even satisfied himself
“ by comparative trials on homologous portions of exist-
ing animals, that incisions, presenting such appearances,
could only be made in fresh bones, still retaining their
cartilage.”
There seems, then, no more reason for supposing that the
bones of the extinct mammalia were washed out of earlier
strata into the drift gravels, than for attributing such an
origin to the implements themselves ; and we may, I think,
regard it as well established, that the mammoth and woolly-
haired rhinoceros, as well as the other mammalia above-
mentioned, co-existed with the savages who used the rude
“ drift hatchets,” at the time when the gravels of the Somme
were being deposited.
The second of the three questions with which we started
(p. 276), may therefore be answered in the affirmative.
Must we, then, carry man back very 'far into the past, or
may we retain our date for the origin of mankind by
bringing the extinct animals down to comparatively re-
cent times? The absence of all tradition of the elephant
and rhinoceros in Europe carries us back far indeed in
years, but a little way only, when measured by geological
standards, and we must therefore solve this question by
examining the drift gravels themselves, the materials of
which they are composed, and the positions which they
occupy, so as to determine, if possible, the conditions under
which they were deposited, and the lapse of tune which
they indicate.
In this third division of the subject I shall again follow
Mr. Prestwich, who has long studied the quaternary beds, and
has done more than any other man to render them intelligible.
* Geological Jour, vol. xvi., p. 471.
286
THE SOMME VALLEY.
Fio. 139.
£
Co
Fig. 139 gives a section across the
valley of the Somme at Abbeville, taken
from Mr. Prestwich’s first paper.* We
should find almost the same arrangement
and position of the different beds, not
only at St. Acheul, hut elsewhere along
the valley of the Somme, wherever the
higher beds of gravel have not been
removed by subsequent action of the
river. Even at St. Valery, at the pre-
sent mouth of the river, I found a bed
of gravel at a considerable height above
the level of the sea. This would seem
to show that at the period of these high
level gravels, the English Channel was
narrower than it is at present, as indeed
we know to have been the case even in
historical times. So early as 1605 our
countryman Verstegan pointed out that
the waves and tides were eating away
our coasts. Sir C. Lyellf gives much
information on this subject, and it ap-
pears that even so lately as the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, the town of Brighton
was situated on the site now occupied
by the Chain Pier.
Mr. Prestwich has pointed out:}: that
a section, similar to that of the Somme,
is presented by the Lark, Waveney,
Ouse, etc., while it is well shown also
along the hanks of the Seine. Probably,
indeed, it holds good of most of our
f See Principles of Geology, p. 315.
+ Phil. Trans. 1864.
* Phil. Trans. 1860.
ST. ACHEUL.
287
rivers, that along the sides of their valleys are patches of old
gravels left by the stream at various heights, before they had
excavated the channels to their present depth. Mr. Prest-
wich considers that the beds of sand and gravel can generally
be divided into two more or less distinct series, one continuous
along the bottom of the valleys and rising little above the
water level — these he calls the low level gravels ; the other,
which he terms the upper or high level gravels, occurring
in detached masses at an elevation of from fifty to two hun-
dred feet above the valley. They seem to me to be only the
two extremes of a single series, once continuous, hut now
generally presenting some interruption. A more magnified
view of the strata at St. Acheul, near Amiens, is shown in
Fia. 140.
Section at St. Acheul.
fig. 140. The upper layer of vegetable soil having been
removed, we have
1. A bed of brick earth (a) from four to five feet in thick-
ness, and containing a few angular flints.
2. Below this is a thin layer of angular gravel (b), one to
two feet in thickness.
3. Still lower is a bed of sandy marl (c), five to six feet
thick, with land and fresh water shells, which, though very
delicate, are in most cases perfect.
4. At the bottom of all these, and immediately overlying
the chalk, is the bed of partially rounded gravel (d) in which
288
ST. ACHEUL.
principally the flint implements are found. This layer also
contains many well-rolled tertiary pebbles.
In the early Christian period this spot was used as a
cemetery : the graves generally descend into the marly sand,
and their limits are very distinctly marked, as in fig. 140/ ;
an important fact, as showing that the rest of the strata have
lain undisturbed for 1500 years. Some of the coffins were
of hard chalk (fig. 140 e), some of wood, in which latter case
the nails and clamps only remain, every particle of wood
having perished, without leaving even a stain behind.
Passing down the hill towards the river, all these strata are
seen to die out, and we find ourselves on the bare chalk ;
but again at a lower level occurs another bed of gravel,
resembling the first, and capped also by the bed of brick
earth which is generally known as loess. This lower bed of
gravel is that called by Mr. Prestwich the lower level gravel.
These strata, therefore, are witnesses ; but of what P Are
they older than the valley, or the valley than they ? are they
the result of causes still in operation, or the offspring of
cataclysms now, happily, at an end ?
If wo can show that the present river, somewhat swollen
perhaps, owing to the greater extension of forests in ancient
times, and by an alteration of climate, has excavated the
present valley, and produced the strata above enumerated ;
then “the suggestion of an antiquity for the human family
so remote as is here implied, in the length of ages required
by the gentle rivers and small streams of eastern France to
erode its whole plain to the depths at which they now flow,
acquires, it must be confessed, a fascinating grandeur, when,
by similitude of feature and geology, we extend the hypo-
thesis to the whole north-west frontiers of the continent, and
assume, that from the estuary of the Seine to the eastern
shores of the Paltic, every internal feature of valley, dale
and ravine — in short, the entire intaglio of the surface — has
ORGANIC REMAINS.
289
been moulded by rimning waters, since tbe advent of the
human race.”*
But, on the other hand, it has been maintained that the
pliant facts may be read as “ expressions of violent and
sudden mutations, only compatible with altogether briefer
periods.” The argument of the Paroxysmist, I still quote
from Blackwood, would probably be something like the
following : —
“ Assuming the pre-existing relief, or excavation rather, of
the surface to have approximated to that now prevailing, he
will account for the gravel by supposing a sudden rocking
movement of the lands and the bottom of the sea of the
nature of an earthquake, or a succession of them, to have
launched a portion of the temporarily uplifted waters upon
the surface of the land.”
Let us, however, examine the strata, and see whether the
evidence they give is in reality so confused and contradictory.
Taking the section at St. Acheul and commencing at the
bottom, we have first of all the partially rounded high-level
gravel, throughout which, and especially at the lower part,
the flint implements occur.
These beds but rarely contain vegetable remains. Large
pieces of the oak, yew, and fir have, however, been determined
at Hoxne. The mammalia, also, are but few ; the mammoth,
tbe Elephas nntiquus, with species of Bos , Cervus, and Equus
are the only ones which have yet occurred at St. Acheul,
though beds of the same age in other parts of England and
France have added the Rhinoceros tichorhinus, and the Cervus
tarandus. The mollusca, however, are more numerous ; they
have been identified by Mr. J. G. Jeffreys, who finds in the
upper level gravel thirty- six species, all of them land or
freshwater forms, and all belonging to existing species. It
is hardly necessary to add, that these shells are not found in
* Blackwood’s Magazine, October, 1860.
19
290
MINERALOGICAL CONTENTS
the coarse gravel, but only here and there, where quieter
conditions, indicated by a seam of finer materials, have pre-
served them from destruction. Here, therefore, we have a
conclusive answer to the suggestion that the gravel may
have been heaped up to its present height by a sudden ir-
ruption of the sea. In that case, we should find some marine
remains ; but as we do not, as all the fossils belong to animals
which live on the land, or inhabit fresh waters, it is at once
evident that this stratum, not being subaerial, must be a
freshwater deposit.
But the gravel itself tells us even more than this : the
river Somme flows through a country in which there are no
rocks older than the chalk, and the gravel in its valley con-
sists entirely of chalk flints and tertiary debris.* The Seine,
on the other hand, receives tributaries which drain other
formations. In the valley of the Yonne we find fragments of
the crystalline rocks brought from the Morvan.f The Aube
runs through cretaceous and Jurassic strata, and the gravels
along its valley are entirely composed of materials derived
from these formations. The valley of the Oise is in this
respect particularly instructive : “ De Maquenoise a Hirson *
la vallee ne presente que des fragments plus ou moins
roules des roches de transition que traverse le cours de
la riviere. En descendant a Etreaupont, on y trouve des
calcaires jurassiques et des silex de la craie, formations
qui ont succede aux roches anciennes. A Guise, le depot
erratique , . , , . cst compose de quartzites et de schistes
de transition de quelques gres plus recents, de silex de
la craie, et surtout de quartz laiteux, dont le volume varie
depuis celui de la tete jusqu’a celui de grains de sable . . . .
Au dela les fragments de roches anciennes diminuent gra-
duellement en volume et en nombre.” At Paris the
* Buteux, l.c. p. 98. f D’Arcliiac, Progres do la G6ologie, p. 163.
X D’Archiac, l.c. p. 155.
OF THE RIVER-DRIFT GRAVELS.
291
granitic debris brought down by the Yonne forms a notable
proportion of the gravel ; and at Precy, near Creil on the
Oise, the fragments of the ancient rocks are abundant ;
but lower down the Seine at Mantes, they diminish very
much in quantity, and at Rouen and Pont de 1’ Arche I
saw none, though a longer search would doubtless have shown
fragments of them. This case of the Oise is however in-
teresting, not only on account of the valuable evidence con-
tained in the above quotation ; but because, though the river
flows, as a glance at the map will show, immediately across
and at right angles to the Somme, yet none of the ancient
rocks which/ form the valley of the Oise have supplied any
debris to the valley of the Somme : and this, though the two
rivers are at one point within six miles of one another, and
separated by a ridge only eighty feet in height.
The same division occurs between the Seine and the Loire :
“ Bien que la ligne de partage des eaux de la Loire et de la
Seine, entre St. Amand(Nievre) et Artenay, aunordd’ Orleans,
soit a peine sensible, aucun debris de roches venant du centre
de la France, par la vallee de la Loire n’est passe dans le
bassin de la Seine.*
In the Yivarais near Auvergne, “ Les depots diluviens
sont composes des memes roches que celles que les rivieres
actuelles entrainent dans les vallees, et sont les debris des
seules montagnes de la Lozin, du Tanargue et du Mezene,
qui entourent le bassin du Yivarais.” f
Again,
“Le diluvium des vallees de l’Aisne et de l’Aire ne ren-
ferme que les debris plus ou moins roules des terrains que
ces rivieres coupent dans leur cours.”J
Finally, Mr. Prestwich has pointed out that the same
thing holds good in various English rivers. The conclusion
* D’Archiac, l.c. p. 164. f D’Archiac, l.c. p. 160.
I Malbos. Bull. Geol. vol. iii. p. 631.
292
OBJECTIONS TO THE
deduced by M. D’Archiac from the consideration of these
observations, and specially from those concerning the valley
of the Seine, is “ Que les courants diluviens ne venaient
point d’une direction unique inais qu’ils convergaient des
bords du bassin vers son centre, suivant les depressions pre-
cxistantes, et que leur elevation ou leur force de transport ne
suffisait pas pour faire passer les debris qu’ils charriaient d’une
de ccs va/lees dans l’ autre.” *
Considering, however, all these facts, remembering that
the constituents of these river-drift gravels, are, in all cases,
derived from beds now in situ along the valley, that they
have not only followed the lines of these valleys, but have
done so in the direction of the present waterflow, and
without in any case passing across . from one river system
to another, it seems quite unnecessary to call in the assistance
of diluvial waves, or indeed any other agency than that of
the rivers themselves.
There arc, however, certain facts in the case which have
been regarded by most geologists as fatal to this hypothesis,
and which prevented M. D’Archiac, and we may add the
French geologists generally, from adopting an explanation so
simple and so obvious. These difficulties appear to have
been two-fold ; or at least the two principal were, firstly,
the large sandstone blocks which are scattered throughout
the river gravels of Northern and Central France; and,
secondly, the height at which the upper level gravels stand
above the present water line. AVe will consider these two
objections separately.
It must be admitted that the presence of the sandstone blocks
in the gravels appear at first sight to be irreconcileable with
our hypothesis. In some places they occur frequently, and are
of considerable size ; the largest I have myself seen is repre-
sented in the section, fig. 141, taken close to the railway
* l.c. p. 163.
PROPOSED THEORY.
293
station at Joinville. It was 8ft. Gin. in length, with a width
of 2ft. Sin. and a thickness of 3ft. 4 in. Even when we
remember that at the time of its deposition the valley was
not excavated to its present depth, we must still feel that a
Fig. HI.
body of water with power to move such masses as these must
have been very different from any floods now occurring in
those valleys, and might fairly deserve the name of a
cataclysm. But whence could we obtain so great a quan-
tity of water P We have already seen that the gravel of
the Oise, though so near, is entirely unlike that of the
Somme, while that of the Seine, again, is quite different from
that of any of the neighbouring rivers. These rivers, there-
fore, cannot have drained a larger area than at present ; the
river systems must have been the same as now. Nor would
the supposition, after all, account for the phenomena. We
should but fall from Scylla into Charybdis. Around the
blocks we see no evidence of violent action ; in the section at
Joinville, the grey subangular gravel passed under the large
block above-mentioned, with scarcely any traces of disturbance.
But a flood which could bring down so great a mass would cer-
tainly have swept away the comparatively light and moveable
gravel below. We cannot, therefore, account for the phe-
nomena by aqueous action, because a flood which would
deposit the sandstone blocks would remove the underlying
gravel, and a flood which would deposit the gravel would
294
FAUNA OF THE
not move the blocks. The Deus ex machina has not only
been called in most unnecessarily, hut, when examined, turns
out to he hut an idol after all.
Driven, then, to seek some other explanation of the diffi-
culty, Mr. Prestwich falls hack on that of floating ice.
Here we have an agency which would satisfactorily explain
all the difficulties of the case. The “packing” and pro-
pelling action of ice would also account for some irregulari-
ties in the arrangement of the beds which are very difficult
otherwise to understand. We are, indeed, irresistibly re-
minded of the figure given by Sir Charles Lyell * from a
view taken by Lieut. Bowen, of the boulders drifted by ice
on the shores of the St. Lawrence. Sir C. Lyell’s work
is in the hands of almost every geologist, and it will,
perhaps, therefore, be unnecessary for me to quote the
accompanying description, accurately as it portrays what
must, we think, have been taking place in the valley of the
Somme thousands of years ago, just as it does in that of the
St. Lawrence at the present time. Nor is it the physical evi-
dence only, which points to an arctic climate during the period
now under consideration ; the fauna also tells the same tale.
The mollusca, indeed, do not afford much evidence, but
though mainly the same as those now living in the country,
they have northern tendencies, 34 out of 36 species being
at present found in Sweden, f while 29 occur in Lombardy.
These latter, however, are principally species having a very
wide range, and we shall see still more clearly that the
leaning of the molluscan fauna is towards the north, if we
remember that out of 77 Finland species, 31 have been
found in the upper level gravels, while of 193 Lombard
species only 29 have as yet occurred.
The evidence derived from the mammalia is more con-
clusive. The presence of the reindeer is itself a clear indi-
• Principles, 1863, p. 220. + Proc. Roy. Soc., 1862, p. 44.
RIVER-DRIFT GRAVELS.
295
cation of a cold climate, and the circumstances attending the
discovery of the tichorhine rhinoceros in Siberia, the fact that
the mammoth of the Lena was enveloped in ice so soon after
death, that the flesh had not had time to decay, as well as
the manner in which the extinct Pachydermata were pro-
vided against cold, clearly show that the Elephas primigenius
and the Rhinoceros tichorhinus, unlike their congeners of to-
day, were inhabitants rather of arctic, than of tropical,
climates.
If we were to take the river gravels as a whole, the
evidence as to climate would be still stronger, because to the
above species we might then add the Norwegian lemming,
the Myodes torquatus , and last, not least, the musk ox. These
three species, have, however, not yet been found in the
upper level gravels.
Taking the fauna and flora as his guide, Mr. Prestwich
assumes that a coimtry where the oak, the yew, the fir, and
the bilberry flourished, where the deer, ox, horse, and rein-
deer abounded, and where the rivers froze so as to transport
large boulders for considerable distances, “ presents conditions
which would probably accord with a mean winter cold of not
less than 20°, while it may have been as low as 10°, or even
lower. This would be from 19° to 29°* below” our present
temperature. While, however, the evidence of a more severe
climate seems to be conclusive, we are hardly as yet in a
condition to estimate with any degree of probability the
actual amount of change which has taken place.
It must always be borne in mind that the temperature of
Western Europe is at present exceptionally mild ; if we go
either to the east or west, to Canada or Siberia, we find
countries under the same latitude as London and Paris,
suffering under a far more severe climate.
The river St. Lawrence, to which I have already pointed
* Prestwich, Phil. Trans. 1864, p. 281.
29G
CLIMATE OF THE
as throwing so much light on the transport of the blocks
now in question, is actually in a lower latitude than the Seine
or the Somme. Moreover, geologists are agreed that at the
period of the boulder clay, a period immediately preceding
that now under consideration, the cold in Western Europe
must have been far more intense than it is at present. The
subject has been discussed in an excellent paper by Mr.
Hopkins* (then President of the Geological Society), and it
is admitted (p. 61) that many of our rivers have probably
followed their present directions “ever since the glacial
period.” Mr. Prestwich’s hypothesis involves therefore in
reality no change in our views as to the climate of Western
Europe. He only supposes that, in this early period of our
rivers, the temperature resembled that which had preceded,
more than that which now prevails ; or, rather, perhaps,
that, in this intermediate period, the climate had neither
the extreme severity of the glacial era, nor the exceptional
mildness of modern times.
But though thus explaining the manner in which the
sandstone blocks may have been transported, these considera-
tions throw no light on the change of conditions which must
have taken place to produce an alteration of climate so great
as that which is supposed to have taken place.
In Mr. Hopkins’ memoir on the subject, the principal
causes which have been suggested for this change of climate
are the following : —
Firstly. A variation in the intensity of solar radiation.
To this theory Mr. Hopkins sees no a priori objection ; but
he does not feel disposed to attach much weight to it, because
it is “a mere hypothesis framed to account for a single and
limited class of facts, and unsupported by the testimony of
any other class of allied, but independent phenomena.”
It is, however, open to the objections stated with great
* Geol. Journal, 1852, p. 56.
RIVER-DRIFT PERIOD.
297
force by Professor Tyndall,* who argues that the ancient
glaciers indicate the action of heat as much as of cold.
“ Cold,” he says, “ will not produce glaciers. You may have
the bitterest north-east winds here in London throughout the
winter, without a single flake of snow. Cold must have the
fitting object to operate upon, and this object — the aqueous
vapour of the air — is the direct product of heat. Let us put
this glacier question in another form : the latent heat of
aqueous vapour, at the temperature of its production in the
tropics, is about 1,000° Fahr., for the latent heat grows
larger as the temperature of evaporation descends. A pound
of water thus vapourised at the equator, has absorbed one
thousand times the quantity of heat which would raise a
pound of the liquid one degree in temperature It is
perfectly manifest that by weakening the sun’s action, either
through a defect of emission, or by the steeping of the entire
solar system in space of a low temperature, we should be
cutting off the glaciers at their source.”
Secondly. Admitting the proper motion of the sun, it has
been suggested that we may have recently passed from a
colder into a warmer region of space.
I must refer to Mr. Hopkins’ memoir for his objections to
this suggestion ; they certainly appear to “render the theory
utterly inapplicable to the explanation of the changes of
temperature at the more recent geological epochs.”
This hypothesis, moreover, is liable to the same fatal ob-
jection as the first. To produce snow requires both heat and
cold ; the first to cause evaporation, the second to produce
condensation. In fact, what we require is a greater contrast
between the temperature of the tropics and that of our lati-
tudes ; so that, paradoxical as it may appear, the primary
cause of the “ glacial ” epoch may be, after all, an elevation
of temperature in the tropics, causing a greater amount of
* Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion, p. 192.
298
MODES OF ACCOUNTING FOR
evaporation in the equatorial regions and consequently a
greater supply of the raw material of snow in the temperate
regions during the winter months.
Thirdly. The effect of an altered position of land and water.
This cause, which has been advocated by Sir C. Lyell
might, indeed, have the effect attributed to it ; hut it seems
scarcely applicable to the present difficulty, because the
geography of Western Europe must have been nearly the
same during the period under consideration, as it is at
present.
Fourthly. An alteration in the earth’s axis.
The possibility of such a change has been denied by
many astronomers. Sir J. W. Lubbock, on the contrary, has
maintained * that it would necessarily follow from upheavals
and depressions of the earth’s surface, if only they were of
sufficient magnitude. The same view has recently been taken
by other mathematicians. This suggestion, however, like
the preceding, involves immense geographical changes, and
would therefore necessarily have required an enormous lapse
of time.
Fifthly. Mr. Hopkins inclines to find another solution of
the difficulty in the supposition that the Gulf Stream did
not at this period warm the shores of Europe. “ A de-
pression of 2000 feet would,” he says, “ convert the Missis-
sippi into a great arm of the sea, of which the present Gulf
of Mexico would form the southern extremity, and which
would communicate at its northern extremity with the
waters occupying the .... great valley now occupied by
the chain of lakes.” In this case the Gulf Stream would no
longer be deflected by the American coasts, but would pass
directly up this channel into the Arctic Sea ; and as every
great ocean current must have its counter current, it is
probable that there would be a flow of cold water from the
* Geol. Jour. vol. v. p. 4.
THE CHANGE OF CLIMATE.
299
north, between the coasts of Norway and Greenland. The
absence of the Gulf Stream would probably lower the
January temperature of Western Europe ten degrees, while
the presence of a cold current from the north would make
a farther difference of about three or four degrees;* an
alteration of the climate which would apparently he sufficient
to account for all the phenomena. This theory, Mr. Hopkins
considers as no mere hypothesis, but as necessarily following
from the submergence of North America, which has been
inferred from evidence of a different nature.
In this case, of course, the periods of great cold in Europe
and in America must have been successive, and not syn-
chronous ; and it must also be observed, that in this sug-
gested deflection of the Gulf Stream, Mr. Hopkins was
contemplating a period anterior to that of the present
rivers. For if we are to adopt this solution of the diffi-
culty, an immense time would be required. If, when the
gravels and loess of the Somme and the Seine were being
deposited, the Gulf Stream was passing up what is now the
Valley of the Mississippi, then it follows that the formation
of the loess in that valley and its delta, an accumulation
which Sir C. Lyell has shown to require a period of about
100,000 years, would be subsequent to the excavation of the
Somme Valley, and to the presence of man in Western
Europe.
Thus, therefore, though the alteration of climate ap-
parently indicated by the zoological contents and the physi-
cal condition of the beds might, by increasing the power of
the floods, add to the erosive action of the river, and by
this means diminish, on the one hand, the time required for
the excavation of the valley, still the very alteration itself
appears, on the other, to require an even greater lapse of time.
But though the presence of the sandstone blocks, and
* Hopkins, l.c. p. 85.
300
ABSENCE OF MARINE REMAINS.
the occasional contortions of the strata, are in perfect ac-
cordance with the view of Mr. Prestwicli, that the gravels
have been deposited by the rivers, our second difficulty still
remains — namely, the height at which the upper -level
gravels stand above the present water-line. We cannot
wonder that these beds have generally been attributed to
violent cataclysms.
M. Boucher de Perthes has always been of this opinion.
“ Ce coquillage,” he sa)7s, “ cet elephant, cette hache, ou la
main cpii la fabriqua, furent done temoins du cataclysme qui
donna a notre pays sa configuration presen te.” *
M. C. D’Orbigny, observing that the fossils found in these
quaternary beds arc all either of land or freshwater animals,
correctly dismisses the theory of any marine action, and ex-
presses himself as follows : — “ En effet l’opinion de la plupart
des g^ologucs est que les cataclysm.es diluviens ont eu pour
causes predominantes de fortes oscillations de l’ecorce ter-
restre, des soulevements de montagnes au milieu de l’ocdan,
d’ou seraient resultees de grandes erosions. Par consequent
les puissants courants d’eau marine, auxquels on attribue ces
erosions diluviennes, auraient du laisser sur les continents
des traces authentiques de leur passage, tels que de nom-
breux debris de coquilles, de poissons et autres animaux
marins analogues a ceux qui vivent actuellement dans la
mer. Or, ainsi que M. Cordier l’a fait remarquer depuis
longtemps a son cours de geologie, rien de semblable n’a ete
constate. Sur tous les points du globe ou l’on a etudie les
depots diluviens, on a rcconnu que, sauf quelques rarcs ex-
ceptions tres contestables, il n’existe dans ces depots aucim
fossile marin : ou bien ce sont des fossiles arraches aux
terrains preexistants, dont la denudation a fourni les ma-
teriaux qui composent le diluvium. En sorte que les depots
diluviens semblent avoir eu pour cause des phenomenes
* Mem. Soc. d’Em. 1’ Abbeville, 1861, p. 475.
INAPPLICABILITY OF CATACLYSMS.
301
meteorologiques, et paraissent etre le resultat d’immenses
iuondations d’eau douce, et non d’eau marine, qui, se pre-
cipitant des points eleves vers la mer, anraient denude une
grande partie de la surface du sol, balaye la generality des
etres organises et pour ainsi dire nivele, coordonne les bassins
hydrograpkiques actuels.” *
Such cataclysms as those supposed by M. D’Orbigny, and
many other French geologists, even if admitted, would not
accoimt for the results before us. We have seen that the
transport of materials has not followed any single direction,
but has in all cases followed the lines of the present valleys,
and the direction of the present waterflow ; that the rocks
of one valley are never transported into another; that the
condition of the loess is irreconcileable with a great rush
of water ; that the mammals and molluscs are the same
throughout the period ; while, finally, the perfect preserva-
tion of many of the most delicate shells is clear proof that
they have not been subjected to any violent action.
We must, moreover, bear in mind that the gravels and
sands are themselves both the proof and the results of an
immense denudation. In a chalk country, such as that
through which the Somme flows, each cubic foot of flint,
gravel or sand, represents the removal of at the very least
twenty cubic feet of chalk, all of which, as we have already
seen, must have been removed from the present area of
drainage. In considering, therefore, the formation of these
upper and older gravels, we must not picture to ourselves the
original valley as it now is, but must, in imagination, restore
all that immense mass of chalk which has been destroyed in
the formation of the lower level gravels and sands. Mr.
Prestwich has endeavoured to illustrate this by a diagram,!
* C. D’Orbigny, Bui. Geo. 2nd ser. V. xvii. p. 66. See also D’Archiac, l.c.
passim.
f Proceed. Roy. Soc. 1862, p. 41.
302
ALTERATION OF THE RIVER LEVEL
and I must once more repeat that this is no mere hypothesis,
since the mass of sand and gravel cannot have been pro-
duced without an immense removal of the chalk. On the
whole, then, we may safely conclude that the upper-level
gravels were deposited by the existing river, before it had ex-
cavated the valley to its present depth and when consequently
it ran at a level considerably higher than the present.
Far, therefore, from requiring an immense flood of water,
two hundred feet in depth, the accumulation of the gravel
may have been effected by an annual volume of water, differ-
ing little from that of the present river.
A given quantity of water will, however, produce very
different effects, according to the manner in which it passes.
“ We learn from observation, that a velocity of three inches
per second at the bottom will just begin to work upon fine
clay fit for pottery, and however firm and compact it may be,
it will tear it up. Yet no beds are more stable than clay
when the velocities do not exceed this : for the water even
takes away the impalpable particles of the superficial clay,
leaving the particles of sand sticking by their lower half in
the rest of the clay, which they now protect, making a very
permanent bottom, if the stream does not bring down gravel
or coarse sand, which will rub off this very thin crust, and
allow another layer to be worn off. A velocity of six inches
will lift fine sand, eight inches will lift sand as coarse as
linseed, twelve inches will sweep along fine gravel, twenty-
four inches will roll along rounded pebbles an inch diameter,
and it requires three feet per second at the bottom to sweep
along shivery angular stones of the size of an egg.” *
If, therefore, we are justified in assuming a colder climate
than that now existing, we should much increase the erosive
action of the river, not only because the rains would fall on
a frozen surface, but because the rainfall of the winter months
* Cyc. Brit. Article “ Rivers,” p. 274.
OWING TO THE EXCAVATION OF THE VALLEY.
303
would accumulate on tlie high grounds in the form of ice and
snow, and would every spring produce floods much greater
than any which now occur.
We now come to the light-colored sandy marl (fig. 138 c).
It is described by Mr. Prestwich as follows : “ White siliceous
sand and light-colored marl, mixed with fine chalk grit, a
few large sub-angular flints, and an occasional sandstone
block, irregular patches of flint gravel, bedding waved and
contorted, here and there layers 'with diagonal seams, a few
ofhreous bands, portions concreted. Sand and freshwater
shells common, some mammalian remains.”
In the pits at Amiens this bed is generally distinct from
the underlying gravels, owing perhaps to the upper portion
of the gravel having been removed ; but in several places
(Precy, Ivry, Bicetre, etc.) this section is complete, the
coarser gravel below becoming finer and finer, and at length
passing above into siliceous sand. These sections evidently
indicate a gradual loss of power in the water at these parti-
cular spots ; rapid enough at first to bring down large pebbles,
its force became less and less until at length it was only able
to deposit fine sand. This, therefore, appears to indicate a
slight change in the course of the river, and gradual exca-
vation of the valley, which, by supplying the floods with a
lower bed, left the waters at this height wi-th a gradually
diminishing force and velocity.
The upper part of the section at St. Acheul consists of
brick earth (fig. 131 a), passing below into angular gravel,
while between this and the under lying sandy marl is some-
times a small layer of darker brick earth. These beds, how-
ever, vary much even in adjoining sections. Taken as a
whole, they are regarded by Mr. Prestwich as the represen-
tatives of that remarkable loamy deposit which is found
overlying the gravels in all these valleys of Northern France,
and which, as the celebrated “ loess ” of the Rhine, attains a
304
LOESS.
thickness of three hundred feet. The greatest development
of it which I have seen in the north of France was in a pit
in the Rue de la Chevalerie, near Ivry, where it was twenty-
two feet thick ; some of this, however, may have been recon-
structed loess brought down by rain from the higher ground
in the immediate neighbourhood. Assuming that this loess
is composed of fine particles deposited from standing or
slowly-moving waters, we might be disposed to wonder at
not finding in it any traces of vegetable remains. We know,
however, from the arrangement of the nails and hasps that
in some of the St. Acheul tombs wooden coffins were used,
while the size of the nails shows that the planks must have
been tolerably thick ; yet every trace of Avood has been re-
moved, and not even a stain is left to indicate its presence.
We need not, therefore, wonder at the absence of vegetable
remains in the drift.
Such is a general account of those gravel pits which lie at
a height of from eighty to one hundred and fifty feet above
the present water level of the \ralleys, and Avliich along the
Somme are found in some places even at a height of two
hundred feet.
Let us now visit some of the pits at the lower levels. At
about thirty feet lower, as for instance at Menchecourt, near
Abbeville, and at St. Roch, near Amiens, where the gravels
slope from a height of sixty feet doAvn to the bottom of the
valley, we find almost a repetition of the same succession ;
coarse sub-angular gravel beloAV, finer materials above. So
similar, indeed, are these beds to those already described,
that it will be unnecessary for me to give any special de-
scription of them.
It seems highly probable that when the fauna and flora
of the upper and loAver level gravels shall have been more
thoroughly investigated, they will be found to be almost
identical. At present, however, the species obtained from
FAUNA OF THE LOW LEVEL GRAVELS.
305
the lower level gravels are more numerous than those from
the upper levels.
Mr. Prestwich gives the following table of the mammalia :
BEDFORD.
Great Northern
Railway, or
Summerhouse
Hill.
ABBEVILLE
Menchecourt.
AMIENS.
St. Roch.
PARIS.
Grenelle, Ivry,
Clichy, or the
Rue de ReuiUy.
j Elephas primigenius, Blum. .
*
*
*
*
I antiquus, Falc.
* 5
...
*
* 0
Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Cm.
* r
*
*
*
megarhinus, Christol.
* r
...
...
* ig
Ursus speheus, Blum
* *
*
...
...
Hyaena spelaea, Gold.
...
*
...
* *9
Felis spelaea, Gold
...
*
...
*
Bos primigenius, Boj. ...'.
, ?
*
*
*
Bison priscus, Boj.
* r
*
...
* C
Equus (possibly two species)
*
*
*
*
Cervus euryceros, Aldr
* r
...
...
...
• elaphus, Linn
*
*
*
*
tarandus, Linn
*
*
...
* c
Hippopotamus major, Nesti.
•*
...
*
* 9
Sus
* r
...
...
*
To this list we must add the lemming, the Mtjocles torquatus,
and the musk ox, which has been found at two spots in the
Thames valley, as well as at Chauny on the Oise.
The inollusca are fifty- two in number, of which forty- two
now live in Sweden, thirty-seven in Finland, and thirty-eight
in Lombardy. Bearing in mind that Lombardy is much
richer than Finland in mollusca, this assemblage has rather
a northern aspect.
There are, however, three species which seem to point
southwards. It may be fairly objected that the Hippopotamus
major, bones of which occur in the drift, could scarcely have
existed in a cold country. Mr. Prestwich, indeed, suggests
that this species may, perhaps, like its gigantic relatives.
20
3 06
FAUNA OF THE LOW LEVEL GRAVELS.
have been fitted to flourish in an arctic climate. But there
is some difference of opinion as to its occurrence : it has not
yet been found in the “ diluvium ” of Germany,* and though
remains of it have undoubtedly occurred in the drift-gravel
of the Somme, there is some reason to believe that they are
not in quite the same condition as the bones of the elephant
and rhinoceros ; it is just possible, therefore, that they may
belong, as Dr. Falconer has suggested, to an anterior period.
Until lately, we should have regarded the tiger as an essen-
tially tropical animal ; yet it is well known to be common in
the neighbourhood of Lake Aral, in the forty-fifth degree of
north latitude : and “ the last tiger killed, in 1828, on the
Lena, in lat. 52 1°, was in a climate colder than that of
St. Petersburg and Stockholm.” f Finally, the Cyrena flu-
minalis now lives in the Nile ; but, on the other hand, it is
found also in the rivers of Central Asia.
While admitting these difficulties, it is still, I think, felt
by most Palaeontologists, that though the presence of one
arctic species would scarcely perhaps justify any very decided
inference as to climate, still that the co-existence of such a
group as this — the musk ox, the reindeer, the lemming, the
Myodes torquatus, the Siberian mammoth, and its faithful
companion the woolly-haired rhinoceros — decidedly indicates,
even though it may not prove, the continued existence of a
climate unlike that now prevailing in Western Europe.
Finally, the lowest portion of the valley is at present oc-
cupied by a bed of gravel, covered by silt and peat, which
latter is in some places more than twenty feet thick, and is
extensively worked for fuel. These strata have afforded to
the antiquaries of the neighbourhood, and especially to
M. Boucher de Perthes, a rich harvest of interesting relics
belonging to various periods. The depth at which these
* Sir C. Lyell, Supplement to Manual, p. 8.
' ' t Lyell’s Principles, p. 77.
PEAT.
307
objects are found has been carefully noted by M. Boucher
de Perthes.
“ Prenant,” he says, “ pour terme moyen du sol de la
vallee, une hauteur de 2 metres audessus du niveau de la
Somme, e’est a 30 a 40 centimetres de la surface qu’on
rencontre le plus abondamment les traces du moyen-age.
Cinquante centimetres plus bas, on commence a trouver des
debris romains, puis gallo-romains. On continue a suivre
ces derniers pendant un metre, e’est a dire jusqu’au niveau
de la Somme. Apres eux, viennent les vestiges gaulois purs
qui descendent sans interruption jusqu’a pres de 2 metres
audessous de ce niveau, preuve de la longue habitation de ces
peoples dans la valine. C’est a un metre plus bas, ou a 4
metres environ audessous de ce meme niveau, qu’on arrive au
centre du sol que nous avons nomme Celtique, celui que
foulerent les Gaulois primitives ou les peuples qui les prec6-
derent and which belonged, therefore, to the ordinary
stone period. It is, however, hardly necessary to add that
these thicknesses are only given by M. Boucher de Perthes
“ comme terme approximatif.”
The “ Antiquites Celtiques ” was published several years
before the Swiss archaeologists had made us acquainted with
the nature of the Pfahlbauten ; but, from some indications
given by M. Boucher de Perthes, it would appear that there
must have been, at one time, lake-habitations in the neigh-
bourhood of Abbeville. He found considerable platforms of
wood, with large quantities of bones, stone implements, and
handles closely resembling those which come from the Swiss
lakes.
These weapons cannot for an instant be confounded with
the ruder ones from the drift gravel. They are ground to a
smooth surface and a cutting edge, while the more ancient
ones are merely chipped, not one of the many hundreds
already found having shown the slightest trace of grinding.
308
RECAPITULATION.
Yet though tlie former belong to the Stone age, to a time so
remote that the use of metal was apparently still unknown
in Western Europe, they are separated from the earlier
weapons of the upper- level drift by the whole period neces-
sary for the excavation of the Somme Valley, to a depth of
more than one hundred feet.
If, therefore, we get no definite date for the arrival of
man in these countries, we can at least form a vivid idea of
his antiquity. He must have seen the Somme running at a
height of about a hundred feet above its present level.
It is, indeed, probable that he dates hack in Northern France
almost, if not quite, as far as the rivers themselves. The
fauna of the country must have been indeed unlike what it is
now. Along the banks of the rivers ranged a savage race
of hunters and fishermen, and in the forests wandered the
mammoth, the two-horned woolly rhinoceros, a species of
tiger, the musk ox, the reindeer, and the urus.
Yet the geography of France cannot have been very
different from wliat it is at present. The present rivers ran
in their present directions, and the sea even then lay between
the Somme and the Adur, though the channel was not so
wide as it is at present.
Gradually the river deepened its valley ; ineffective, or
even perhaps constructive, in autumn and winter, the melt-
ing of the snows turned it every spring into a roaring
torrent. These floods were probably more destructive to
animals even than man himself ; while, however rude they
may have been, our predecessors can hardly be supposed to
have been incapable of foreseeing and consequently escaping
the danger. While the water, at an elevation of one
hundred and fifty feet above its present level, as for instance
at Liercourt, had sufficient force to deposit coarse gravel ; at
a still higher level it would part with finer particles, and
would thus form the loess which, at the same time, would
RECAPITULATION.
309
here and there receive angular flints and shells brought down
from the hills in a more or less transverse direction by the
rivulets after heavy rains.
Mr. Prestwich regards the difference of level between the
upper gravels and the loess as “ a measure of the floods of
that period.” If the gravel beds were complete, this would
no doubt he the case ; hut it seems to me that the upper-level
gravels are mere fragments of an originally almost con-
tinuous deposit, and under these circumstances the present
cannot be taken as evidence of the original difference.
As the valley became deeper and deeper the gravel would
he deposited at lower and lower levels, the loess always
following it;* thus we must not consider the loess as a
distinct bed, but as one which was being formed during
the same time, though never at the same place as the
beds of gravel. In fig. 142 I have given a diagram, the
Fig. 142.
better to illustrate my meaning; the loess is indicated by
letters with a dash and is dotted, while the gravels are repre-
sented as rudely stratified. In this case I suppose the river
to have run originally on the level (1), and to have
deposited the gravel (a) and the loess (a') ; after a certain
amount of erosion which would reduce the level to (2)j
the gravel would be spread out at (b), and loess at ( b ').
Similarly the loess (V) would be contemporaneous with the
gravel (c).
* Sec Mr. Prestwich’s paper read before the Royal Society, June 19th, 1862.
310
RECAPITULATION.
Thus, while in each section the lower beds would of course
be the oldest, still the upper- level gravels as a whole would
be the most ancient, and the beds lying in the lower parts
of the valley the most modern.
For convenience I have represented the sides of the valley
as forming a series of terraces; and though this is not
actually the case, there are several places in which such
terraces do occur.
It is, however, well known that rivers continually tend to
shift their courses ; nor is the Somme any exception to the
rule ; the valley itself indeed is comparatively straight, but
within it the river winds considerably, and when in one
of its curves, the current crosses “ its general line of descent,
it eats out a curve in the opposite bank, or in the side of the
hills bounding the valley, from which curve it is turned back
again at an equal angle, so that it recrosses the line of
descent, and gradually hollows out another curve lower down
in the opposite bank,” till the whole sides of the valley, or
river-bed, “ present a succession of salient and retiring -
angles.”* During these wanderings from one side of the
valley to the other, the river continually undermines and
removes the gravels which at an earlier period it had de-
posited. Thus the upper-level gravels are now only to be
found here and there, as it were, in patches, while in many
parts they have altogether disappeared; as, for instance, on
the right side of the valley between Amiens and Pont
Reiny, where hardly a trace of the high-level gravels is to
be seen.
The neighbouring shores of England and France show
various traces of a slight and recent elevation of the land.
Raised beaches have been observed at an elevation of from
five to ten feet at various points along the coasts of Sussex
and the Pas de Calais. Marine shells also occur at Abbeville
* Lyell, Principles, p. 206.
RECAPITULATION.
311
about twenty-five feet above the sea-level.* No doubt this
ebange of level lias bad an important bearing on tbe excava-
tion of the valley, but I cannot quite agree with Mr. Prest-
wicb as to tbe effect which it has produced.!
At length the excavation of the valley was completed ; the
climate had gradually become more like our own, and whether
from this change, or whether perhaps yielding to the ir-
resistible power of man, the great Pachydermata became
extinct. Under new conditions, the river, unable to carry
out to sea the finer particles brought down from the higher
levels, deposited them in the valley, and thus raised some-
what its general level, checking the velocity of the stream,
and producing extensive marshes, in which a thick deposit of
peat was gradually formed. We have, unfortunately, no trust-
worthy estimate as to the rate of formation of this substance,
but on any supposition the production of a mass in some
places more than thirty feet in thickness must have acquired
a very considerable period. Yet it is in these beds that we
find the remains of the Neolithic or later Stone period.
From the tombs at St. Acheul, from the Roman remains
found in the superficial layers of the peat, at about the
present level of the river, we know that fifteen hundred
years have produced scarcely any change in the configuration
of the valley. In the peat, and at a depth of about fifteen
feet in the alluvium at Abbeville, are the remains of the
Stone period, which we believe from the researches in Den-
mark and Switzerland to be of an age so great that it can
only be expressed in thousands of years. Yet all these are
subsequent to the excavation of the valley ; what antiquity,
then, are we to ascribe to the men who lived when the
* The higher level gravels in some
places fringe the coast at an elevation
of as much as one hundred feet ; this
phenomenon, however, I should be dis-
posed to refer principally to an en-
croachment of the sea on the land, and
the consequent intersection of the old
river beds at a higher level
t Phil. Trans. 1864, p. 297.
312
LAPSE OF TIME.
Somme was but beginning its great task ? No one can pro-
perly appreciate the time required who has not stood on the
heights of Liercourt, Picquigny, or on one of the other points
overlooking the valley : nor, I am sure, could any geologist
return from such a visit without an overpowering sense of
the change which has taken place, and the enormous time
which must have elapsed since the first appearance of man
in Western Europe.
313
CHAPTER X.
on the antiquity of man, continued.
IT is hardly necessary to say that the preceding chapters
do not contain all the facts upon which those who
believe in the great antiquity of the human race chiefly rely.
It is, indeed, by no means only of late years, or among
archaeologists, that the difficulties in Archbishop Usher’s
chronology have been felt to he insuperable. Historians,
philologists, and physiologists have alike admitted that the
short period allowed could hardly he reconciled with the
history of some eastern nations, that it did not leave room
for the development either of the different languages, or of
the numerous physical peculiarities, by which the various
races of men are distinguished.
Thus, Dr. Prichard says, “Many writers who have been by
no means inclined to raise objections agaiflst the authority of
the Sacred Scriptures, and in particular Michaelis, have felt
themselves embarrassed by the shortness of the interval
between the Noachic Deluge and the period at which the
records of various nations commence, or the earliest date to
which their historical memorials lead us back. The extrava-
gant claims to a remote and almost fathomless antiquity,
made by the fabulists of many ancient nations, have vanished
before the touch of accurate criticism ; but after abstracting
all that is apparently mythological from the early traditions
of the Indians, Egyptians, and some other nations, the pro-
314
VARIETIES OF MAN REPRESENTED
bable history of some of them seems still to reach up to a
period too remote to be reconciled with the short chronology
of Usher and Petavius. This has been so universally felt
by all those writers who have entered on the investigation
of primeval history that it is superfluous to dwell upon
the subject.”*
Baron Bunsen, one of the ablest among those who regard
the various forms of language as having had a common
origin, is forced to claim for the human race an antiquity of
at least 20,000 years. Again, the ingenious author of “ The
Genesis of the Earth and of Man,”f says truly that “one
of the greatest of the difficulties that beset us when we
endeavour to account for the commonly supposed descent of
all mankind from a single pair, .... lies in the fact
of our finding, upon Egyptian monuments, mostly of the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries before the
Christian era, representations of individuals of numerous
nations, African, Asiatic, and European, differing in phy-
sical characteristics as widely as any equal number of nations
of the present age that could be grouped together; among
these being negroes, of the true Nigritian stamp, depicted
with a fidelity, as to colour and features, hardly to be sur-
passed by an accomplished modern artist. That such diver-
sities had been pfoduced by natural means in the interval
between that remote age and the time of Noah, probably no
one versed in the sciences of anatomy and physiology will
consider credible,” and he concludes, therefore, that the
human race cannot have been derived from a single pair.
For, just as the philological difficulties will not, of course,
affect those who accept literally the account given in our
English version of the miraculous creation of languages at
the Tower of Babel ; so in the same way “ the shortness
* Prichard. Researches into the Physical History of Mankind. Vol, v., p. 5-53.
t l.c. p. 117.
ON ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SCULPTURES.
315
of the period allowed by the received chronology, for the
development of those physical varieties which distinguish
the different races of men,” * though felt as “ one of the
greatest difficidties connected with the opinion that all
mankind are descended from one primitive stock,” will not
affect those who believe in the existence of separate species
of men.
But I can do no more than allude to these questions, and
must return to the archaeological and geological considera-
tions which fall more strictly within the scope of my present
work.
I have been much struck, when standing at the feet of
glaciers, by the great size of the terminal moraines, and the
length of time which must have been required for their forma-
tion. Let us take as an instance the Nigaard glacier in the Yus-
tedal, on the Sognefjord. The Norwegian glaciers no doubt
covered formerly a much larger area than that which they
now occupy. They retreated as the cold diminished ; but
we have already seen that man was present in Western
Europe, when the general temperature was several degrees
lower than it is at present ; and we shall probably, therefore,
be within the mark if we suppose that the glacier at Yustedal
has retreated at least a mile up the valley since the period of
the river-drift gravels, and the entrance of *man into Europe.
Now the terminal moraine of the glacier covers the whole of
this space with great blocks of stones, thousands and hun-
dreds of thousands in number, and yet, although all these
have probably been brought down in the human period, I
could only see a few blocks on the lower end of the glacier
itself.
As far as Denmark is concerned we must, for the present,
rely principally on the double change which has taken place
in the pre valent vegetation. Now the beech forests are the
* Prichard, l.c. p. 552.
316
THE VEGETATION OF DENMARK.
pride of the country, and, as far as tradition goes, they have
always been so. But, as is shown by the peat-bogs, this is a
mistake. The large mosses do not help us very much in this
matter, but there are, in many of the forests, small and deep
depressions, filled with peat, and called skov-mose. These,
as might naturally be expected, contain many trees which
grew on their edges, and at length fell into them. At the
bottom is usually an amorphous peat, above is a layer of
pines — a tree which does not now grow naturally in Den-
mark. Higher up the pines disappear, and are replaced by
oaks, and white birches, neither of which are now common
in Denmark ; while the upper layer consists principally of
the Betula verrucosa, and corresponds to the present, which
we may call the Beech, period. Professor Steenstrup has
found stone implements among the stems of the pines,
and as the capercailzie, which feeds on the young shoots of
the pine, has been found in the Kjokkenmoddings, it seems
likely, to say the least, that these shell-mounds belonged to
the Pine period, and that the three great stages of civilisa-
tion correspond in some measure with these three periods of
arborescent vegetation. For one species of tree thus to dis-
place another, and in its turn to be supplanted by a third,
would evidently require a great lapse of time, but one which,
as yet, we have no means of measuring.
Turning now from Denmark to Switzerland, there are two
cases in which a more definite estimate has been attempted.
We must not, indeed, place too much reliance on them as
yet, but if many calculations made on different data shall
agree in the main, we may at length come to some approxi-
mate conclusion.
The first of these calculations we owe to M. Morlot. The
torrent of the Tiniere, at the point where it falls into the Lake
of Geneva, near Villeneuve, has gradually built up a cone of
gravel and alluvium. In the formation of the railway this
THE CONE OF THE TINIERE.
317
cone lias been bisected for a length of one thousand feet, and
to a depth, in the central part, of about thirty-two feet six
inches above the level of the railway. The section of the cone
thus obtained shows a very regular structure, which proves
that its formation was gradual. It is composed of the same
materials (sand, gravel, and larger blocks) as those which are
even now brought down by the stream. The amount of detritus
does, indeed, differ slightly from year to year, but in the long
run the differences compensate for one another, so that when
considering long periods, and the structure of the whole mass,
the influences of the temporary variations, which arise from
meteorological causes, altogether disappear, and need not
therefore be taken into account. Documents preserved in
the archives of Yilleneuve show that in the year 1710 the
stream was dammed up, and its course a little altered, which
makes the present cone slightly irregular. That the change
wat not of any great antiquity is also shown by the fact that
on the side where the cone was protected by the dykes, the
vegetable soil, where it has been affected by cultivation, does
not exceed two to three inches in thickness. On the side
thus protected by the dykes the railway cutting has exposed
three layers of vegetable soil, each of which must, at one
time, have formed the surface of the cone. They are regu-
larly intercalated among the gravel, and exactly parallel to
one another, as well as to the present surface of the cone,
which itself follows a very regular curve. The first of these
ancient surfaces was followed on the south side of the cone,
over a surface of 15,000 square feet : it had a thickness of
four to six inches, and occurred at a depth of about four feet
(1.14 metre measured to the base of the layer) below the
present surface of the cone. This layer, which belonged to
the Roman period, contained tiles and a Roman coin.
The second layer was followed over a surface of 25,000
square feet ; it was six inches in thickness, and lay at a depth
318
THE CONE OF THE TINlfeltE.
of ten feet (2.97 metres) including the thickness of the layer.
In it have been found several fragments of unglazed pottery,
and a pair of tweezers in bronze. The third layer has been
followed for 3,500 square feet ; it was six or seven inches in
thickness, and lay at a depth of nineteen feet (5.69 metres)
below the present surface : in it were found some fragments
of very rude pottery, some pieces of charcoal, some broken
bones, and a human skeleton with a small, round, and very
thick skull. Fragments of charcoal were even found a foot
deeper, and it is also worthy of notice that no trace of tiles
was found below the upper layer of earth.
Towards the centre of the cone, the three layers disappear,
since, at this part, the torrent has most force, and has de-
posited the coarsest materials, even some blocks as much as
three feet in diameter. The further we go from this central
region, the smaller are the materials deposited, and the more
easily might a layer of earth, formed since the last great
inundations, be covered over by fresh deposits. Thus, at a
depth of ten feet, in the gravel on the south of the cone, at
a part where the layer of earth belonging to the Bronze age
had already disappeared, two tin-rolled bronze implements
were discovered. They had probably been retained by their
weight, when the earth which once covered them was washed
away by the torrent. After disappearing towards the centre
of the cone, the three layers reappear on the north side, at
slightly greater depth, but with the same regularity, and the
same relative position. The layer of the Stone age was but
slightly interrupted, while that of the Bronze era was easily
distinguishable by its peculiar character and color.
Here, therefore, we have phenomena so regular and so
well marked that M. Morlot has thought himself justified
in applying to them a calculation, with some little con-
fidence of at least approximate accuracy. Making some
allowances ; for instance, admitting three hundred years
THE VALLEY OF THE TIII'eLE.
319
instead of one hundred and fifty, for the period since the
embankment, and taking the Roman period as representing
an antiquity of from sixteen to eighteen centuries, he obtains
for the age of Bronze an antiquity of from 2,900 years to
4,200 years, for that of the Stone pei'iod from 4,700 to 7,000
years, and for the whole cone an age of from 7,400 to 11,000
years. M. Morlot thinks that we should be most nearly
correct in deducting two hundred years only for the action of
the dykes, and in attributing to the Roman layer an anti-
quity of sixteen centimes, that is to say, in referring it to
the middle of the third century. This would give an antiquity
of 3,800 years for the Bronze age, and 6,400 years for that of
Stone ; but, on the whole, he is inclined to suppose for the
former an antiquity of from 3,000 to 4,000 years, and for the
latter of from 5,000 to 7,000 years.
Not less ingenious is the attempt which has been made by
M. Gillieron,* Professor at the College of Neuveville, to obtain
a date for the Lake-habitation at the Pont de Thiele. This
stream connects the Lakes of Neufchatel and Bienne. During
the first part of its course, the valley is narrow, and the
bridge, close to wjiich the Lake-dwelling has been discovered,
is situated at the narrowest spot. A little further down the
valley suddenly expands, and from this point remains of the
same width until it joins the Lake of Bienne. It is evident
that the valley, as far as the bridge over the Thiele, was once
occupied by the lake, which has gradually been silted up by
the action of forces still in operation, and, if we could ascer-
tain how long it would have taken to effect this change, we
should then know approximately the date of the remains
found at the Pont de Thiele, which are evidently those of
a Lake-dwelling. The Abbey of St. Jean, which stands in
this valley, about 375 metres from the present shore of the
lake, was founded, according to ancient documents, between
* Notice sur les Habitations Lacustres du Pont de Thiele. Porrentruy, 1862.
320
THE VALLEY OF THE THIELE.
the years 1090 and 1106, and is therefore about 750 years old.
It is possible that the abbey may not have been built exactly
on the then edge of the lake ; but even if this were the case,
the gain of land will only have been 375 metres in 750 years.
Prof. Gillieron does not compare with this the whole space
between the convent and the Lake-dwelling, because in the
narrower part of the valley in which the latter is situated,
the gain may have been more rapid ; but if we only go to the
point at which the basin contracts, we shall have a distance
of 3,000 metres, which would upon these data indicate a mini-
mum antiquity of 6,750 years. This calculation assumes that
the shape of the bottom of the valley was originally uniform.
M. Morlot agrees with Prof. Gillieron in believing that
this was the case, and from the general configuration of the
valley it seems to me also to be a reasonable supposition.
Moreover, the soundings taken by M. Iliscly in the Lake of
Bienne show that the variations in depth are but of slight
importance. These two calculations, then, appear to indi-
cate that 6,000 or 7,000 years ago Switzerland was already
inhabited by men who used polished stone implements,
but how long they had been there, or how many cen-
turies elapsed before the discovery of metal, we have as yet
no evidence to show.
A still greater antiquity is obtained by Mr. Ilorner as the
result of his Egyptian researches, which were undertaken at
the joint expense of the Royal Society and the Egyptian
government. It is well known that the valley of the Nile is
overflowed every year, and even as- long ago as the time of
Herodotus it was inferred that Egypt had been formerly
an arm of the sea, filled up gradually and converted into dry
land by the mud brought down from the upper country.
In the great work on Egypt, which we owe to the French
philosophers who accompanied Napoleon’s expedition to that
country, an attempt was made to estimate the secular
THE VALLEY OF THE NILE.
321
elevation thus produced, and it was assumed to be five
inches in a century. This general average was consistent,
however, with great differences at different parts, and Mr.
Horner, therefore, did not consider himself justified in
applying this estimate to particular cases, even if he had
been satisfied with the evidence on which it rested. He
preferred to examine the accumulation which had taken place
round monuments of known age, and selected two — namely,
the obelisk at Heliopolis, and the statue of Rameses II. in
Memphis. “ The obelisk is believed to have been erected
2300 years b.c., and adding 1850, the year when the observa-
tion was made (June, 1851, i.e. before the inundation of that
year), we have 4150 years in which the eleven feet of sedi-
ment were deposited, which is at the rate of 3.18 inches in a
century.”* But Mr. Horner himself admits that “entire
reliance cannot be placed on this conclusion, principally
because it is possible that the site originally chosen for the
temple and city of Heliopolis was a portion of land somewhat
raised above the level of the rest of the desert.” He relies,
therefore, principally on the evidence supplied by the colossal
statue in Memphis. In this case the present surface is 10
feet 6§ 'inches above the base of the platform on which the
statue stood. Assuming that the platform was sunk 14§
inches below the surface of the ground at the time it was
laid, we have a depth of sediment from the present surface
to that level of 9 feet 4 inches. Rameses is supposed by
Lepsius to have reigned from 1394 to 1328 b.c., which would
give an antiquity of 3215 years, and consequently a mean
increase of 3| inches in a century. Having thus obtained an
approximate measure of the rate of deposit in that part of the
Nile valley, Mr. Horner dug several pits to a considerable
depth, and in one of them, close to the statue and at the
* Horner, Phil. Trans. 1858, p. 73.
21
322
mr. horner’s
depth, of 39 feet, a piece of pottery was found, which upon the
above data would indicate an antiquity of about 13,000 years.
In many other excavations, pieces of pottery and other
indications of man were found at even greater depths, but it
must be confessed that there are several reasons which
render the calculations very doubtful. For instance, it is
impossible to ascertain how far the pedestal of the statue
was inserted into the ground ; Mr. Ilorner lias allowed 14$
inches, but if it was much deeper, the rate of deposition
would be diminished, and the age increased. On the other
hand, if the statue was on raised ground, of course the reverse
would be the case.
Moreover, it has been argued that the ancient Egyptians
were in the habit of enclosing with embankments, the areas
on which they erected temples, statues, etc., so as to keep
out the waters of the Nile.
Whenever, then, says Sir Charles Lyell, “the waters at
length break into such depressions, they must at first carry
with them into the enclosure much mud washed from the
steep surrounding banks, so that a greater quantity would be
deposited in a few years than, perhaps, in as many centuries
on the great plain outside the depressed area, where ho such
disturbing causes intervened.” But the rapidity of depo-
sition will be in proportion to the previous retardation, and
will only tend to bring the depressed area up to the general
level. Supposing, for instance, that the monument of
Raineses, erected on the flat plain of Memphis 3200 years
ago, was protected by embankments for the first 2000 years,
and that during that time the plain outside was gradually
raised five feet ten inches, being at the rate of three and a
half inches in a century. When the embankment gave
way, the space enclosed would soon be filled up to the
general level, and a thickness of five feet ten inches might
be deposited in a few years : still this exceptionally rapid
EGYPTIAN RESEARCHES.
323
accumulation would only be tbe complement of the excep-
tional want of deposit which had preceded it; and, conse-
quently, when the level of the surrounding plain had been
attained, then although the mud covering the base of the
statue may have been altogether deposited in the last few
hundred years, i.e. since the embankments have been neg-
lected, the thickness of the deposit will still be a measure of
the general elevation which has taken place on the sur-
rounding plain since the erection of the monument.
Even if the embankments had remained intact to this
day, and the monument stood now in the hollow thus pro-
duced, Mr. Horner’s argument would not be invalidated, but
rather confirmed. The depth of the hollow would give us a
measure of the deposit which had taken place since the
erection of the monument, or rather since the formation of
the embankment. If, however, the monument had been
erected in an area already depressed by the action of still
older embankments, the calculation would be vitiated, but in
this case the rate of deposition would appear to be greater
than it really is, and the age consequently would be under-
rated. There are other causes, however, which prevent me
from accepting unreservedly the conclusions of Mr. Horner,
although his experiments are of great importance, and much
credit is due to the Egyptian government for the liberal
manner in which they assisted Mr. Horner and the Hoyal
Society in this investigation.
We have already mentioned the evidence on which M.
Morlot has endeavoured to estimate the age of the Cone de
la Tiniere and which gave about six thousand years for the
lower layer of vegetable soil, and ten thousand years for
the whole of the existing cone. But above this existing
cone is another, which was formed when the lake stood at a
higher level than at present, and which M. Morlot refers to
the period of the river-drift gravels. This drift-age cone,
324
THE AGE OF THE
however, is about twelve times as large as that now forming,
and would appear, therefore, on the same data, to indicate
an antiquity of more than one hundred thousand years.
In his “ Travels in North America,” Sir C. Lyell has en-
deavoured to estimate the age of the Mississippi delta, in the
following manner: — “Dr. Riddle,” he says, “communicated
to me, at New Orleans, the result of a series of experiments
which he had made to ascertain the proportion of sediment
contained in the waters of the Mississippi. He concluded
that the mean annual amount of solid matter was to the
water as in weight, or about ^ 0\o in volume. Since
that period he has made another series of experiments, and
his tables show that the quantity of mud held in suspension,
increases regularly with the increased height and velocity of
the stream. On the whole, comparing the flood season with
that of clearest water, his experiments, continued down to
1849, give an average annual quantity of solid matter some-
what less than his first estimate, but not varying materially
from it. From these observations, and those of Dr. Car-
penter and Mr. Forskey (an eminent engineer, to whom I
have before alluded), on the average width, depth, and
velocity of the Mississippi, the mean annual discharge of
water and sediment were deduced. I then assumed 528 feet,
or the tenth of a mile, as the probable thickness of the
deposit of mud and sand in the delta ; founding my conjec-
ture chiefly on the depth of the Gulf of Mexico between the
southern point of Florida and the Balize, which equals, on
an average, one hundred fathoms, and partly on some
borings, six hundred feet deep, in the delta near Lake Pont-
chartrain, north of New Orleans, in which the bottom of the
alluvial matter is said not to have been reached. The area
of the delta being about 13,600 square statute miles, and the
quantity of solid matter annually brought down by the river
3,702,758,400 cubic feet, it must have taken 67,000 years
MISSISSIPPI DELTA.
325
for the formation of the whole ; and if the alluvial matter
of the plain above be 264 feet deep, or half that of the delta,
it must have required 33,500 more years for its accumulation,
even if its area he estimated as only equal to that of the
delta, whereas it is, in fact, larger.” Moreover, as Sir
Charles has himself pointed out, a very large proportion of
the mud brought down by the river is not deposited in the
delta, but is carried out into the Gulf. In the “ Antiquity of
Man,”* he refers to the above-given calculation, and admits
that the discharge of water seems to have been much under-
rated by the earlier experimenters. Messrs. Humphreys and
Abbot, who have recently surveyed the delta, “ also remark
that the river pushes along its bottom into the gulf a certain
quantity of sand and gravel,” which “would, they suppose,
augment the volume of solid matter by about one-tenth.”
This, of course, would greatly diminish the time required ;
but taking into consideration the quantity of mud which is
carried out to sea, and which was not allowed for in the
previous calculation, Sir Charles Lyell still regards 100,000
years as a moderate estimate ; and he considers, that “ the
alluvium of the Somme containing flint implements and the
remains of the mammoth and hyaena,” is no less ancient.
Sir C. Lyell has alsof attempted to form an estimate of
the duration of the glacial epoch, assuming that the different
movements of elevation and depression proceeded at an average
rate of 2\ feet in a century. As the simplest “ series of
changes in physical geography which can possibly account
for the phenomena of the glacial period,” he gives the fol-
lowing : —
“First, a continental period, towards the close of which
the forest of Cromer flourished : when the land was at least
500 feet above its present level, perhaps much higher, and
* Appendix to Third Ed. of the Antiquity of Man, p. 16.
f Antiquity of Man, pp. 282, 285.
326
GEOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE
its extent probably greater than that given in the map,
fig. 41.” In this map the British Isles, including the
Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands, are connected with, one
another and with the Continent, the whole German Ocean
being laid dry.
“Secondly, a period of submergence, by which the land
north of the Thames and Bristol Channel, and that of Ireland,
was gradually reduced to such an archipelago as is pictured in
map, fig. 40 ; and finally to such a general prevalence of sea
as is seen in map, fig. 39, only the tops of the mountains being
left above water. This was the period of great submergence
and of floating ice, when the Scandinavian flora, which over-
spread the lower grounds during the first continental period,
may have obtained exclusive possession of the only lands not
covered with perpetual snow.
“Thirdly, a second continental period, when the bed of
the glacial sea, with its marine shells and erratic blocks, was
laid dry, and when the quantity of land equalled that of the
first period.”
It is evident that such changes as these would require a
great lapse of time. Sir Charles Lyell admits that the
average change of 2| feet in a century is a purely arbitrary
and conjectural rate, that there are cases in which a change
of as much as six feet in a century appears to have taken
place, still it is in his opinion probable that the rate assumed
in a century is, if anything, above the average, and in this I
believe that most geologists would be disposed to agree with
him.
On this hypothesis the submergence of Wales to the extent
of 1,400 feet, would require 56,000 years; but “taking Prof.
Ramsay’s estimate of 800 feet more, that elevation being
required for the deposition of some of the stratified drift, we
must demand an additional period of 32,000 years, amounting
m all to 88,000 ; and the same time would be required for
QUATERNARY PERIOD.
732
re-elevation of the tract to its present height. But if the
land rose in the second continental period no more than 600
feet above the present level, this .... would have taken
another 24,000 years ; the whole of the grand oscillation,
comprising the submergence and re-emergence, having taken,
in round numbers, 224,000 years for its completion ; and
this, even if there were no pause or stationary period, when
the downward movement ceased, and before it was converted
into an upward one.”
To the geologist these figures, large as they are, will have
no appearance of improbability. All the facts of geology
tend to indicate an antiquity of which we are hut beginning
to form a dim idea. Take, for instance, one single formation
— our well-known chalk. This consists entirely of shells and
fragments of shells deposited at the bottom of an ancient sea
far away from any continent. Such a process as this must be
very slow ; probably we should be much above the mark if we
were to assume a rate of deposition of ten inches in a century.
Now the chalk is more than a thousand feet in thickness,
and would have required therefore more than 120,000 years
for its formation. The fossiliferous beds of Great Britain as
a whole are more than 70,000 feet in thickness, and many
which with us measure only a few inches, on the continent
expand into strata of immense depth ; while others of great
importance elsewhere are wholly wanting with us, for it is
evident that during all the different periods in which Great
Britain has been dry land, strata have been forming (as is,
for example, the case now) elsewhere, and not with us.
Moreover, we must remember that many of the strata now
existing have been formed at the expense of older ones ; thus
all the flint gravels in the south-east of England have been
produced by the destruction of chalk. This again is a very
slow process. It has been estimated that a cliff 500 feet
hio-h will be worn away at the rate of an inch in a century.
328
THE WEALDEN VALLEY.
This may seem a low rate, but we must bear in mind that
along- any line of coast there are comparatively few points
which are suffering at one time, and that even on these when
a fall of cliff has taken place, the fragments serve as a pro-
tection to the coast until they have been gradually removed
by the waves. The Wealden Valley is twenty- two miles in
breadth, and on these data it has been calculated that the
denudation of the Weald must have required more than
150,000,000 of years.
There can be no doubt about the interest of these calcula-
tions, and they have also the great merit of giving definition
to our ideas. We must not, however, attribute to them a
value which has been distinctly disclaimed even by their
authors. “ Dans tous les cas,” says M. Morlot, “ il doit etre
bien entendu que T auteur n’expose le present calcul que
comme une premiere imparfaite et hasardeuse tentative, sans
valeur absoluo en elle-meme, tant qu’elle n’aura pas ete
v4rifi.ee au rnoyen d’autres essais du meme genre.” More-
over, we must remember that these estimates are brought
forward not as a proof, but as a measure, of antiquity. Our
belief in the antiquity of man rests not on any isolated calcu-
lations, but on the changes which have taken place since his
appearance ; changes in the geography, in the fauna, and in
the climate of Europe. V alleys have been deepened, widened,
and partially filled up again; caves through whicli sub-
terranean rivers once ran are now left dry ; even the con-
figuration of land lias been materially altered, and Africa
finally separated from Europe.
Our climate has greatly changed for the better, and with
it the fauna has materially altered. In some cases, for in-
stance, in that of the hippopotamus and of the African ele-
phant, we may probably look to the diminution of food and
the presence of man as the main causes of their disappearance ;
the extinction of the mammoth, the Elephas antiquus, and the
TIME.
329
Rhinoceros ticliorhinus, may possibly be due to tbe same in-
fluences ; but tbe retreat of the reindeer and tbe musk ox are
probably in great measure owing to the change of climate.
These and similar facts, though they afford us no means of
measurement, impress us with a vague and overpowering
sense of antiquity. All geologists, indeed, are now prepared
to admit that man has existed on our earth for a much longer
period than was until recently supposed to have been the
case.
But it may be doubted whether even geologists yet realise
the great antiquity of our race.
“When speculations on the long series of events which
occurred in the glacial and post-glacial periods are indulged
in,” says Sir C. Lyell,* “ the imagination is apt to take alarm
at the immensity of the time required to interpret the monu-
ments of these ages, all referable to the era of existing species.
In order to abridge the number of centuries which would
otherwise be indispensable, a disposition is shown by many
to magnify the rate of change in pre-historic times, by in-
vesting the causes which have modified the animate and the
inanimate world with extraordinary and excessive energy.
.... We of the living generation, when called upon to
make grants of thousands of centuries, in order to explain
the events of what is called the modern period, shrink
naturally at first from making what seems so lavish an ex-
penditure of past time.”
Tinning now to the Ethnology of the drift period, we
have only two skulls which can be referred with any degree
of probability to the age of the extinct mammalia. One of
them was found by Dr. Schmerling in the Cave of Engis,
near Liege, the other by Dr. Fuhlrott, also in a cave, in the
Neanderthal, near Dusseldorf.
* Address to the Brit. Ass. 1864, p. 21. Bath.
330
THE ENGIS SKULL.
The first of these two skulls (figs. 143, 144) might have
Fl°- 143- been that of a
modern Euro-
pean, so far at
least as form
is concerned.
“ There is no
mark of de-
gradation about
any part of its
structure. It is,
in fact, a fan’
average human
skull, which
might have be-
longed to a philo-
sopher, or might
have contained
the thoughtless
brains of a sa-
vage.” *
The case, he
adds, “of the Neander-
thal skull (figs. 145-
147) is very different.
Under whatever aspect
we view this cranium,
whether we regard its
vertical depression, the
enormous thickness of
its supraciliary ridges,
its sloping occiput, or
The Engis skull. 7 its long and straight
* Huxley. Man’s Place in Nature, p. 156.
Fig. 144.
331
The Neanderthal Skull-
332
THE MARKINGS ON BONES FROM THE
squamosal suture, we meet with ape-like characters, stamping
it as the most pithecoid of human crania yet discovered.” It
has been suggested that this Neanderthal skull may have been
that of an idiot. There is not, however, the slightest reason
for any such hypothesis, and though the shape of the skull
is so remarkable, the brain appears to have been of con-
siderable size, and, indeed, is estimated by Professor Huxley
at about seventy-five cubic inches, which is the average
capacity of the Polynesian and Hottentot skulls. It must,
however, be admitted that though the antiquity of this
skull is no doubt great, there is no satisfactory proof that it
belonged to the period of the extinct mammalia. Moreover,
as Mr. Busk has already pointed out,* “we have yet to
determine whether the conformation in question be merely
an individual peculiarity, or a typical character.”
As regards the Engis skull, there seems no reason to
doubt that it really belonged to a man who was contempo-
raneous with the mammoth, the cave-bear, and other extinct
mammalia, in which case, as Professor Huxley has well
pointed out, “ the first traces of the primordial stock whence
man has proceeded need no longer be sought, by those who
entertain any form of the doctrine of progressive develop-
ment, in the newest tertiaries ; but that they may be looked
for in an epoch more distant from the age of the Elephas pri-
migenius than that is from us.”
Already M. Desnoyersf has called attention to some
marks noticed by him on bones found in the upper pliocene
beds of St. Prest, and belonging to the Elephas meridionalis,
Rhinoceros leptorhinus, Hippopotamus major, several species of
deer (including the gigantic Megaceros carnutorum, Langel),
and two species of Bos. M. Desnoyers has examined a
considerable number of these bones, and he comes to the
conclusion “ que les entailles, que les traces d’incisions,
* Nat Hist. Rev. 1861, p. 172. f Compter Rendus. June 8, 1863.
PLIOCENE BEDS OF ST. PREST.
333
d’ excoriation ou de choc, que les strics transvcrsales, recti-
lignes, ou sinueuses, ou elliptiques, plus aigues a une ex-
iremite qu’a T autre, tantot polies, tantot subdivisees en
plusieurs stries plus fines occupant la cavite des premieres;
en un mot, que des traces tout a fait analogues a celles que
produiraient les outils de silex tranchants a point plus ou
moins aigue, a bords plus ou moins denteles, se voyaient sur
la plupart de ces ossements.”
Among the bones of the deer were several crania, all of
which have been broken in one way, namely, by a violent
blow given on the skull between, and at the base of, the horns.
M. Steenstrup has noticed fractures of this kind in other
less ancient skulls of ruminants, and at the present day
some of the Northern tribes treat the skulls of ruminants in
the same manner. Through the courtesy of M. Desnoyers,
I have had the opportunity of examining some of the
scratched bones from Saint Prest. The markings fully bear
out the description given by him, and some of them at least
appeared to me to be probably of human origin ; at the same
time, and in the present state of our knowledge, I am not
prepared to say that there is no other manner in which they
might have been produced.
Sir Charles Lyell himself thinks that we may expect to
find remains of man in the pliocene strata, but there he
draws the line, and says that in mioccne time, “had some
other .rational being, representing man, then flourished, some
signs of his existence could hardly have escaped unnoticed,
in the shape of implements of stone or metal, more frequent
and more durable than the osseous remains of any of the
mammalia.”
Without expressing any opinion as to the mental con-
dition of our ancestors in the miocene period, it seems to me
evident that the argument derived from the absence of
human remains, whatever may be its value, is as applicable to
334
MIOCENE MAN.
pliocene as to miocene times. But those who have learnt
geology at the feet of Sir Charles Lyell, and look up to
him as their master in the science, will be the least able to
agree with him on this point, for the imperfection of the
geological record has hitherto been urged upon us almost as
strongly by Sir C. Lyell as by Mr. Darwin. It is true that
few of our existing species or even genera have as yet been
found in miocene strata ; but if man constitutes a separate
family of mammalia, as he does in the opinion of the highest
authorities, then, according to all palaeontological analogies,
he must have had representatives in miocene times. We
need not, however, expect to find the proofs in Europe ; our
nearest relatives in the animal kingdom are confined to hot,
almost to tropical, climates, and it is in such countries that
we must look for the earliest traces of the human race.
335
CHAPTER XI.
MODERN SAVAGES.
ALTHOUGH our knowledge of ancient times has of
late years greatly increased, it is still very imperfect,
and we cannot afford to neglect any possible source of in-
formation. It is evident that history cannot throw much
light on the early condition of man, because the discovery
— or, to speak more correctly, the use — of metal has in
all cases preceded that of writing. Even as regards the
Age of Bronze we derive little information from it, and
although, as we have seen, the Age of Stone is vaguely
alluded to in the earliest European writers, their statements
have generally been looked upon as imaginative rather than
historical ; and are, indeed, confined to a mere mention of
the fact that there was a time when metal was unknown.
Nor will tradition supply the place of history. At best it
is untrustworthy and short-lived. Thus, in 1770 the New
Zealanders had no recollection of Tasman’s visit.* Yet this
took place in 1643, less than 130 years before, and must have
been to them an event of the greatest possible importance
and interest. In the same way the North American Indians
soon lost all tradition of He Soto’s expedition, although
“ by its striking incidents it was so well suited to impress the
Indian mind.” f
* Cook’s First Voyage round the World. Hawkesworth’s Voyages, vol. ii. p. 388.
f Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. ii., p. xii.
336
MODERN SAVAGES.
I do not mean to say that tradition would never preserve
for a long period the memory of any remarkable event ; the
above-mentioned facts prove only that it will not always do
so : hut it is imnecessary for us to discuss this question, as
there is in Europe no tradition of the Stone Age, and when
arrow-heads are found, the ignorant peasantry refer them to
the elves or fairies ; stone axes are regarded as thunderbolts,
and are used, not only in Europe hut also in various other
parts of the world, for magical purposes.
Deprived then, as regards the Stone Age, of any assistance
from history, hut relieved at the same time from the em-
barrassing interference of tradition, the archaeologist can only
follow the methods which have been so successfully pursued
in geology — the rude bone- and stone-implements of bygone
ages being to the one, what the remains of extinct animals
are to the other. The analogy may be pursued even further
than this. Many mammalia which are extinct in Europe
have representatives still living in other countries. Our
fossil pachyderms, for instance, would he almost unintelligible
hut for the species which still inhabit some parts of Asia and
Africa; the secondary marsupials are illustrated by their
existing representatives in Australia and South America;
and in the same manner if we wish clearly to understand the
antiquities of Europe, we must compare them with the rude
implements and weapons still, or until lately, used by
savage races in other parts of the world. In fact, the Yan
Diemaner and South American are to the antiquary, what
the opossum and the sloth are to the geologist.
A chapter, therefore, devoted to the consideration of
modern savages will certainly not he out of place ; and
though it would require volumes to do justice to the subject,
still it may he possible, even in a few pages, to bring together
a certain number of facts, which wrill throw light on the
ancient remains found in Europe, and on the condition of
NO EVIDENCE OF DEGRADATION.
337
the early races which inhabited our continent. In order,
however, to limit the subject as much as possible, I propose,
with one exception, to describe only the “ non-metallic
savages” (if such an expression may be permitted) and even
of these, only some of the most instructive, or of those
which have been carefully observed by travellers.
It is a common opinion that savages are, as a general rule,
only the miserable remnants of nations once more civilised ;
but, although there are some well-established cases of
national decay, there is no scientific evidence which would
justify us in asserting that this is generally the case. No
doubt there are many instances in which nations, once pro-
gressive, have not only ceased to advance in civilisation, but
have even fallen back. Still if we compare the accounts of
early travellers with the state of things now existing, we
shall find no evidence of any general degradation. The
Australians, Bushmen, and Fuegians lived when first ob-
served almost exactly as they do now. In some savage
tribes we even find traces of improvement ; the Bachapins,
when visited by Burchell, had just introduced the art of
working in iron ; the largest erection in Tahiti was con-
structed by the generation living at the time of Captain
Cook’s visit, and the practice of cannibalism had been re-
cently abandoned ; * again, outriggers are said to have been
recently adopted by the Andaman Islanders ; and if certain
races, as for instance some of the American tribes, have fallen
back, this has perhaps been due, less to any inherent tendency
than to the injurious effect of European influence. Moreover,
if the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, New Zealand, etc., had
ever been inhabited by a race of men more advanced than
those whom we are in the habit of regarding as the abori-
gines, some evidence of this would surely have remained ; and
* Forster, Observations made during a Voyage Round tbe World, p. 327.
See also Ellis, Polynesian Researches, vol. ii., p. 29.
22
338
HOTTENTOTS.
this not being the case, none of our travellers having observed
any ruins, or other traces of a more advanced civilisation,
there does not appear to be any sufficient reason for sup-
posing these miserable beings to be at all inferior to the
ancestors from whom they are descended.
The Hottentots.
Speaking generally, we may say that the use of metal has
been long known throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, while
in America, in Australia, and in the Oceanic Islands, all im-
plements and weapons were, until within the last three hundred
years, made of wood, bone, stone, or other similar materials.
The semi- civilised nations of Central America formed,
indeed, a striking exception to the rule, since they were
acquainted with the use of bronze. The North American
Indians also had copper hatchets, but these were simply
hammered into shape, without the assistance of heat. Here,
therefore, we seem to get a glimpse of the manner in which
our ancestors may have acquired the knowledge of metal. No
doubt the possession of iron generally marks a great advance
in civilisation ; still the process is very gradual, and there are
some nations which, though provided with metal implements
are, nevertheless, but little removed from a state of barbarism.
Thus the Hottentots, who were not only acquainted with
the use, but even with the manufacture, of iron, and who
possessed large numbers of sheep and cattle, were yet in
many respects among the most disgusting of savages. Even
Kolben, who generally takes a favorable view of them,
admits that they arc in many respects the filthiest people in
the world.* We might go farther, and say the filthiest
animals ; I think no species of mammal could be fairly
compared with them in this respect. Their bodies were
covered with grease, their clothes were never washed, and
* Kolben’s History of the Cape of Good Hope, vol. i., p. 47.
DRESS. HOUSES. IMPLEMENTS.
339
their hair was loaded “ from day to day with such a quantity
of soot and fat, and it gathers so much dust and other filth,
which they leave to clot and harden in it, for they never cleanse
it, that it looks like a crust or cap of black mortar.” * They
wore a skin over the back, fastened in front. They carried
this as long as they lived, and were buried in it when they
died. Their only other garment was a square piece of skin,
tied round the waist by a string, and left to hang down in
front. In winter, however, they sometimes used a cap. For
ornaments they wore rings of iron, copper, ivory, or leather.
The latter had the advantage of serving for food in bad times.
Their huts were generally oval, about fourteen feet by
ten in diameter, and seldom more than four or five in
height. They were made of sticks and mats. The sticks
were fastened into the ground at both ends, or if not long
enough, two were placed opposite to one another, and secured
together at the top. One end of the hut was left open to
form the door. The mats were made of bulrushes and flags
dried in the sun, and so closely fitted together that only the
heaviest rain could penetrate thcm.f “With respect to
household furniture,” says Tlmnbcrg, J “they have little or
none. The same dress that covers a part of their body by
day, serves them also for bedding at night.” Their victuals
are boiled in leathern sacs and water, by means of heated
stones, but sometimes in earthen pots.§ Milk is kept in
leathern sacs, bladders of animals, and baskets made of
platted rushes, perfectly watertight. These, a tobacco pouch
of skin, a tobacco pipe of stone or wood, and their weapons,
constitute the whole catalogue of their effects. According
to Kolbcn, they sometimes broiled their meat, sometimes
* Kolbcn, l.c. p. 188. % Page 141.
f Tbunberg, Pinkerton’s Travels, $ This, however, they appear to have
vol. xvi., p. 33 ; Kolben, l.c. p. 221 ; learnt from the Europeans.
Sparrman, vol. i., p. 195.
340
METHODS OF KILLING GAME.
boiled it in blood, to which they often added milk ; “ this
they look on as a glorious dish.” They were, however, both
filthy and careless about their cookery, and the meat was often
eaten half putrid, and more than half raw.*
Their weapons consisted of bows and poisoned arrows,
spears, javelins or assagais, stones, and darting sticks or
“ kirris,” about three feet long and an inch thick. With
these weapons they were very skilful, and feared not
to attack the elephant, the rhinoceros, or even the lion.
Large animals were also sometimes killed in pitfalls, from
six to eight feet deep, and about four feet in diameter.
They fixed a strong pointed stake in the middle. “Into this
hole an elephant falling with his fore-feet (it is not of di-
mensions to receive his whole body) he is pierced in the neck
and breast with the stake and there held securely,”! for the
more he struggled the farther it penetrated. They caught
fish both with hooks and in nets. They also ate wild fruits
and roots of various kinds, which however they did not take
the trouble to cultivate.
For domestic animals the Hottentots had oxen, sheep, and
dogs. It might have naturally been supposed that oxen were
used in the same manner all over the world. They seem evi-
dently adapted either for draught or for food. With the dog
the case is different ; we ourselves use him in various ways, and
one feels therefore the less surprise at the different services
which he performs for different races of savages. But even
with regard to cattle the same was the case ; besides what we
may call their normal uses, the Yeddahs, or void inhabitants
of Ceylon, used oxen in hunting ; and the Hottentots trained
some to serve as what we may call sheep- oxen, or cow- oxen,
— that is to say to guard and manage the flocks and herds, —
and others as war-oxen, a function which might have been
* Thunberg, p. 141 ; Kolben, p. 203 ; Harris, Wild Sports of Africa, p. 142.
f Kolben, p. 250.
METALLURGY.
341
considered as opposed to the whole character of the beast, hut
in which, nevertheless, they appear to have been very useful.
The Hottentots of late years not only used iron weapons,
hut even made such for themselves. The ore was smelted
in the following manner :* “They make a hole in a raised
ground, large enough to contain a good quantity of iron-
stones, which are found here and there in plenty in the
Hottentot countries. In this hole they melt out the iron
from the ore. About a foot and a half from this hole, upon
the descent, they make another, something less. This is the
receiver of the melted iron, which runs into it by a narrow
channel they cut from one hole to the other. Before they
put the ironstones into the hole where the iron is to he
smelted out of them, they make a fire in the hole, quite up
to the mouth of it, in order to make the earth about it
thoroughly hot. When they suppose the earth about it is
well heated, they fill the hole almost up with ironstones.
They then make a large fire over the stones, which they
supply from time to time with fuel, till the iron is melted
and all of it is run into the receiver. As soon as the iron in
the receiver is cold, they take it out, and break it to pieces
with stones. These pieces the Hottentots, as they have occa-
sion, heat in other fires, and with stones heat ’em out and shape
’em to weapons. They rarely make anything else of iron.”
I do not describe the Hottentot customs, few of them being
fit for publication. They are, however, extremely curious, and
are fully described by Thunberg,f Kolben, J Cook,§ Sparr-
man, || and other travellers. The Hottentots can hardfy be
said to have had any religion,^! [though they seem to have
* Kolben, l.c. p. 239.
f l.c. pp. 141, 142.
+ Pp. 113, 115, 118, 121, 153, 252.
$ Hawkesworth’s Voyages, vol. iii.,
p. 791.
|| Vol. i., p. 357.
5[ Thunbcrg, l.c. p. 141, etc. ; Kolben,
pp. 37, 93, etc. Beeckman thought
they had no religion at all. Pinker-
ton’s Voyages, vol. ii., p. 153; so also,
Harris, Wild Sports of Africa, p. 160;
Sparrraan, vol. i., p. 207.
342
CHARACTER.
had some notion of a Deity. Even Kolben admits that they
had not “any institution of worship.” The older writers,
indeed, considered certain dances as being religious cere-
monies. This was stoutly denied by the natives themselves,*
in spite of which Kolben assures us that they icere “acts of
their religion,” adding candidly, “ let the Hottentots say
what they will.” They are very fond of smoking, and are
great drunkards. It is only fair to say that Kolben gives
them a good character for integrity, . chastity, fidelity, and
liberality, assuring us that they “are certainly the most
friendly, the most liberal, and the most benevolent people to
one another that ever appeared upon earth. f At the same
time it is difficult to see how he can reconcile this statement
with the admitted fact that as soon as any man or woman is so
enfeebled by old age that he or she is unable to work, and can
“ no longer ” — I am quoting from Kolben himself — “ be of
any manner of service in anything, they are thrust out of
the society and confined to a solitary hut at a considerable
distance from the kraal, there, with a small stock of provi-
sions placed within their reach, but without any one to
comfort or assist ’em, to die either of age or hunger, or be
devoured by some wild beast.” J This, it must be remem-
bered, was no exceptional atrocity, but a general custom, and
applied to the rich as well as the poor, for if an old man had
property it was taken away from him. Infanticide, again, was
very common among them, and was not regarded as a crime.
Girls were generally the victims, and if a woman had twins,
the ugliest of them was almost always exposed or buried alive.
This was done with the consent of “ the whole kraal, which
generally allows it without taking much pains to look into
it.Ӥ The poverty and the hardships which they had to
undergo may perhaps plead as some excuse for these two
• Span-man, vol. i., p. 212 ; Kolben, l.c. f l.c. p. 334.
X l.c . p. 321. § U. p. 144.
VEDDAIIS OF CEYLON.
343
unnatural customs. But there is another, which I will relate
also on the authority of Kolben,* and which appears to me
quite incompatible with the good character he ascribes to the
Hottentots. When a boy came of age he was admitted into
the society of men, with certain ceremonies, which, though
ludicrous, are so disgusting that it is difficult to imagine
how they can have originated : after this he was entirely
excluded from the society of women ; lie . was not allowed to
cat or drink with them, nor to join in any of their entertain-
ments. But the worst has yet to follow. “ A Hottentot,
thus discharged from the tuition of his mother, may insult
her when he will with impunity. He may cudgel her. if he
pleases, only for his humour, without any danger of being
called to an account for it. And these things I have often
known done. Nor,” adds Kolben, “are such unnatural ex-
travagancies attended with the least scandal.” I will say
no more about the character of the Hottentots.
The Bushmen resembled the Hottentots in many things,
but were even more uncivilised. They had no knowledge
of metallurgy, no domestic animals, and no canoes. They
frequently stole the cattle of their more advanced neighbours,
but always killed and ate them as quickly as possible. Their
principal weapons were bows and poisoned arrows.
The Vedclahs.
The Yeddahs or wild tribes who inhabit the interior of
Ceylon have been described by Knox,f Tcnnent,| and
Bailey.§ They live in huts very rudely formed of boughs
and bark, and cultivate small patches of chena, but subsist
principally on honey and the produce of the chase. Their
weapons consist of axes and bows and arrows. With
* l.c. p. 122. X Ceylon.
t An Historical Relation of Ceylon. $ Transactions of the Ethnological
1681. Society. New Ser. Vol. ii., p. 278.
344
VKDDAHS.
the latter they are not very skilful, as they pursue
only the larger game, and the art of hunting consists in
creeping close up to their prey and taking it unawares.
They are very good deer- stalkers, and besides excellent dogs,
have also hunting buffaloes. These are so trained that they
are easily guided by a string tied round the horn, and are
used at night. The buffalo feeds, the man crouches behind
him, and thus, unseen and unsuspected, steals upon his
prey.
They have no pottery, and their cooking is very primitive.
They wear scarcely any clothes, nothing in fact but a scrap
of dirty rag, supported in front by a string tied round the
waist. Perhaps the women’s cloth is a trifle larger than the
men’s, but that appears to be the only difference. They are
very dirty, and very small ; the ordinary height of the men
being from four feet six to five feet one, and of the women
from four feet four to four feet eight. Mr. Bailey thinks
that it would be impossible to conceive more barbarous
specimens of the human race.
They have, however, one remarkable peculiarity which it
would be unfair to omit. They are kind, affectionate, and con-
stant to their wives ; abhor polygamy, and have a proverb that
“ Death alone can separate husband and wife.” In this they
are very unlike their more civilised neighbours.* An in-
telligent Kandyan chief with whom Mr. Bailey visited these
Veddahs was “perfectly scandalised at the utter barbarism of
living with only one wife, and never parting until separated by
death.” It was, he said, “just like the wanderoos” (monkeys).
Even in their marriage relations, however, the Yeddahs can-
not altogether be commended, as it is — or was until quite
lately — very usual with them for a man to marry his younger
sister. This is the more remarkable, as marriage with an
* It is only fair to add that the Kandyans are said to have much improved in
this respect of late years.
ANDAMAN ISLANDERS.
345
elder sister seems to tliem as horrible as it does to us. They
do not seem to have any religion.
The Andaman Islanders.
The Mincopies or inhabitants of the Andaman Islands have
been described by Dr. Mouatt* and Prof. Owen, who consider
that they “ are, perhaps, the most primitive, or lowest in the
scale of civilisation of the human race.” Their huts consist
of four posts, the two front ones six to eight feet high, the back
ones only one or two feet. They are open at the sides, and
covered with a roof of bamboo, or a few palm-leaves bound
tightly together. The Mincopies live chiefly on fruit, man-
groves, and shell-fish. Sometimes, however, they kill the
small pigs, which run wild in the jungle.
They have single-tree canoes, hollowed out with a /^-shaped
axe, assisted probably by the action of fire. They are ac-
quainted with the use of outriggers, which, however, appear
to have been of recent introduction, as they are not alluded
to by the earlier writers, f Their arrows and spears are now
generally tipped with iron and glass, which they obtain from
wrecks, and which have replaced bone. Their harpoons, like
those of so many other savages, have a moveable head, and a
long cord by which this may be held when fixed in the victim. J
They are very skilful with the bow, and “make practice at
forty or fifty yards with unerring certainty.” Their nets are
made with great ingenuity and neatness. They have no
pottery, but use either shells or pieces of bamboo to hold
water. They kill fish by harpoons, or with small hand nets
they take any that are left by the tide, and it is even said
that they are able to dive and catch them with their hands. §
They cover themselves with mud, and also tattoo, but wear
* Adventures and Researches among the Andaman Islanders. Also in the
Transactions of the Ethnological Society. New Ser. Yol. ii., p. 42.
t Mouatt, l.c. p. 317. t Mouatt, l.c. p. 326. § Mouatt, l.c. pp. 310, 333.
346
AUSTRALIANS.
no clothes. Indeed they appear to be entirely without any
sense of shame, and many ot their habits are like those of
beasts. They have no idea of a Supreme Being, no religion,
nor any belief in a future state of existence. After death,
the corpse is buried in a sitting posture. When it is sup-
posed to be entirely decayed, the skeleton is dug up, and
each of the relations appropriates a bone. In the case of a
married man, the widow takes the skull and wears it sus-
pended by a cord round her neck.*
They have no dogs, nor any domestic animals, unless,
indeed, their poultry may be regarded as such.
The Australians.
The natives of Australia were scarcely, if at all, farther
advanced in civilisation than those of the Andaman Islands.
The “houses” observed by Captain Cook “at Botany
Bay, where they were best, were just high enough for a
man to sit upright in ; but not large enough for him to
extend himself in his whole length in any direction : they
were built with pliable rods about as thick as a man’s finger,
in the form of an oven, by sticking the two ends into the
ground, and then covering them with palm leaves and broad
pieces of bark ; the door is nothing but a large hole at one
end.” Further north, where the climate was warmer, the
huts were even less substantial, and being completely open
on one side, scarcely deserve even the name of huts, and
were little more than a protection against the wind. Finally,
the natives observed by Dampier near C. Leveque, on the
north-west coast, seem to have had no houses at all. Bound
their dwelling-places Captain Cook observed “ vast heaps of
shells, the fish of which we supposed had been their food.”t
Captain Grey also describes similar shell-mounds, J some of
* Mouatt, l.c. p. 327. + First Voyage, vol. iii., p. 598.
X l-c- vol. i., p. 110. See also King’s Australia, vol. i., p. 87.
FOOD.
347
which covered quite half an acre, and were as much as ten
feet high. They seem, however, to have been first noticed
by Dampier.*
The food of the Australian savages differs much in different
parts of the continent. Speaking generally, it may he said
to consist of various roots, fruits, fungi, shellfish, frogs,
insects, birds’ eggs, birds, fish, turtles, kangaroo, dog, and
sometimes of seal and whale. f They are not, however, so
far as I am aware, able to kill whales for themselves, but
when one is washed on shore it is a real godsend to them.
Fires are immediately lit, to give notice of the joyful event.
Then they rub themselves all over with blubber, and
anoint their favourite wives in the same way ; after which
they cut doxvn through the blubber to the beef, which they
sometimes eat raw and sometimes broil on pointed sticks.
As other natives arrive they “ fairly eat their way into the
whale, and you see them climbing in and about the stinking
carcase, choosing titbits.” For days “they remain by the
carcase, rubbed from head to foot with stinking blubber,
gorged to repletion with putrid meat — out of temper from
indigestion, and therefore engaged in constant frays — suffer-
ing from a cutaneous disorder by high feeding — and alto-
gether a disgusting spectacle. There is no sight in the
world,” Captain Grey adds, “more revolting than to see a
young and gracefully-formed native girl stepping out of the
carcase of a putrid whale.” The Australians also mash up
bones and suck out the fat contained in them, as already
described (p. 248). They are excessively fond of fatty
substances.
In a cave on the north-eastern coast, Mr. Cunningham
observed certain “tolerable figures of sharks, porpoises,
turtles, lizards, trepang, starfish, clubs, canoes, water-
* Pinkerton’s Voyages, vol. ii., p. 473.
f Grey’s Explorations in North-West and Western Australia, p. 263.
348
CLOTHING. ORNAMENTS.
gourds, and some quadrupeds which, were probably in-
tended to represent kangaroos and dogs.”* It is, however,
doubtful whether these are the work of the present natives.
The Alfouras do not claim them, but on the contrary ascribe
them to diabolical agency. Moreover, they are, according to
Mr. Oldfield, “ quite unable to realise the most vivid artistic
representations. On being shown a large colored engraving
of an aboriginal New Hollander, one declared it to be a ship,
another a kangaroo, and so on ; not one of a dozen identify-
ing the portrait as having any connection with himself.” f
The Australians observed by Cook and Dampier were en-
tirely destitute of clothing, and tlieir principal ornament
consisted of a bone, five or six inches long, and half an inch
thick, thrust through the cartilage of the nose. They did
not tattoo. On the north-west coast, King observed some
of the natives with a very peculiar decoration. At every
three inches between the upper part of the chest and the
navel, the body was scarified in horizontal bands, the cica-
trices of which were at least an inch in diameter and raised
half an inch from the body.J Some of them fastened to
their hair, by means of gum, teeth of kangaroos or of men,
dogs’ tails, fish bones, bits of wood, and other objects which
they regarded as ornamental. Frequently they wore pieces
of opossum, or kangaroo-skin — not for decency, however,
but for warmth, and while hunting as a protection from
thorns. According to D’Urville, however, the natives of
New South Wales did not think it decent that young
children should go quite naked. §
On the north-eastern coasts they use canoes made from
the trunks of trees, each canoe being formed from a single
* King, vol. ii., p. 26 ; Grey, vol. i., p. 259.
t Oldfield on the Aborigines of Australia. Transactions of the Ethnological
Society. New Ser. Yol. iii.
■ + l.c. p. 42. § Voyage de l’Astrolabe, vol. i., p. 471.
RAFTS. IMPLEMENTS.
349
trunk, probably hollowed by fire. “ They are about fourteen
feet long, and being very narrow, are fitted with an out-
rigger.”* Further south they were nothing but a piece of
bark, tied together at the ends and kept open in the middle
by small bows of wood. The western tribes had no canoes, f
owing, according to King, + to the absence of large timber. §
Instead of a boat they use a log of wood, on which they sit
astride, with a bit of bark in each hand as a paddle. Some
tribes fasten four or five mangrove stems together so as to
make a kind of very small float or raft. The tribe observed
by Dampier were even worse off in this respect ; they had
“no boats, canoes, or bark logs.” Yet they dwelt on the
shore, lived principally on fish, and swam about from island
to island. The absence of canoes is very remarkable in a
people whose habits were so aquatic, and whose food was
derived almost entirely from the sea.
Their implements are very simple. They have no know-
ledge of pottery, and carry water in a small vessel made
of bark. They are quite ignorant of warm water, which
strikes them with great amazement. || Some of them carry
“ a small bag, about the size of a moderate cabbage-net,
which is made by laying threads loop within loop, some-
what in the manner of knitting used by our ladies to make
purses. This bag the man carries loose upon his back by
a small string which passes over his head ; it generally con-
tains a lump or two of paint and resin, some fishhooks and
lines, a shell or two, out of which their hooks are made, a
few points of darts, and their usual ornaments, which in-
cludes the whole worldly treasure of the richest man among
them.”
* Freycinet. Voyage autour du Monde, vol. ii., p. 705.
f Cook’s First Voyage, vol. iii., p. 643.
+ l.c. vol. i., pp. 38, 43, 49 ; vol. ii., pp. 66, 69.
§ In his view, however, of Careening Bay, the country appears to be well
wooded. II D’Urville, vol. i., p. 461.
350
HAMMERS. KNIVES. SPEARS.
Fig. 148.
A very similar inventory is given by Capt. Grey,
who adds, however, a flat stone to pound roots with.*
They have also stone hatchets, hammers, knives, pieces
of flint, and sticks to dig up roots. The hammer
is used for killing seals or other animals, and for
breaking open shell-fish. The handle is from twelve
to fifteen inches long, pointed at one end, and having
on each side at the other a hard stone fastened on
by a mass of gum. The knives have a similar
handle, and at the end a few splinters of quartz or
flint, arranged in a row and stuck on with gum in
the same manner.
The natives of Botan}r Bay had fish-hooks, but no
nets ; on the contrary, Capt. Grey, in describing
those of Western Australia, mentions nets, but not
hooks ; and, according to Dampier, the natives
of the north-west had “no instruments to catch
great fish.” Those seen by King were also
without hooks or nets.f Throughout the conti-
nent they were ignorant both of slings and bows
and arrows. On the other hand they had spears,
clubs (fig. 148), shields, and two very peculiar
instruments, namely, the throwing stick and the
boomerang (fig. 149). The spear, however, is their
national weapon. These “are about ten feet long,
and very slender, made of cane or wood, tapering to
a point, which is barhed. They are light, and one
would scarcely be inclined to believe that they could
be darted with any force : nor could they, without
the aid of the wummera, a straight flat stick, three
feet in length, terminating in a socket of hone or
hide, into which the end of the spear is fixed. The
wummera is grasped in the right hand by three
* l.c. p. 266.
f l.c. vol. ii., p. 137
Club.
THROWING STICK. BOOMERANG.
351
fingers, the spear lying between the fore-finger and thumb.
Previous to throwing it, a tremulous or vibratory motion
is given to it, which is supposed to add to the accuracy of
the aim : in projecting the spear, the wummera is retained
in the hand, and the use of this simple contrivance adds
greatly to the pi'ojectile force given to fio. ho.
the spear. They are well practised in
the use of these weapons.”* Indeed,
Capt. Grey tells us that he has often
seen them kill a pigeon with a spear
at a distance of thirty yards, and Capt.
Cook says that “at a distance of fifty
yards these Indians were more sure of
their mark than we could be with a
single bullet. ”f The very long Austra-
lian spears are not thrown with the
wummera, but by the strength of the
arm alone. They have also several other
kinds of spears ; one of them, used for
striking turtle, has a moveable, barbed,
blade, which is attached by a string to
the butt end of the spear ; when the
turtle is struck, the shaft becomes de-
tached from the point, which remains
fixed in the body, while the shaft serves,
to impede the motions, and partly
as a float to indicate the position of
the turtle. A similar weapon is used by
the Esquimaux, the Mincopies, the Boomerang.
Brazilian Indians, and other savages. But the most extra-
ordinary weapon, and one quite peculiar to Australia, is the
boomerang. This is a curved stick, generally rounded on one
side, flat on the other, about three feet long and two inches wide,
* United States Explor. Expcd., vol. i., p. 191. f Cook, l.c. p. 642.
352
BOOMERANG.
by three-quarters of an inch thick. At first sight it looks
something like a very rude wooden sword. It was used both
in the chase and in war. “ It is grasped at one end in the
right hand, and is thrown sickle-wise, either upwards into
the air, or downwards so as to strike the ground at some
distance from the thrower. In the first case it flies with a
rotary motion, as its shape would indicate ; after ascending
to a great height in the air, it suddenly returns in an
elliptical orbit to a spot near its starting point. On
throwing it downwards on the ground, it rebounds in a
straight line, pursuing a ricochet motion until it strikes the
object at which it is thrown. Birds and small animals are
killed with it, and it is also used in killing ducks. The
most singular curve described by it is when thrown into the
air, above the angle of 45° ; its flight is always then back-
wards, and the native who throws it stands with his back,
instead of his face, to the object he is desirous of hitting.” *
Mr. Merry, a gentleman who resided for some time in Aus-
tralia, informs me that on one occasion, in order to test the
skill with which the boomerang could be thrown, he offered a
reward of sixpence for every time the boomerang was made
to return to the spot from which it was thrown. He drew
a circle of five or six feet on the sand, and although the
boomerang was thrown with much force, the native suc-
ceeded in making it fall within the circle five times out
of twelve. Mr. Oldfield,! on the contrary, speaks much less
favorably of the boomerang. It is, he says, but little used
in war, nor do the natives “ ever attempt to kill a solitary
bird or beast by means of” it. On the other hand, in
swampy localities where waterfowl “ congregate largely, the
boomerang is of essential use; for a great number of them
being simultaneously hurled into a large flock of Waterfowl,
ensures the capture of considerable numbers.”
* United States Explor. Exped., l.c. t Trans. Ethn. Soc., N. S. vol. iii., p. 264.
FIRE. POLYGAMY. SUPERSTITION.
353
They obtain fire by rubbing together two pieces of wood.
The process, however, being one of considerable labor, par-
ticularly in damp weather, great care is taken to prevent the
fire, when once lighted, from becoming extinguished. For
this reason they often carry with them a cone of banksia,
which burns slowly like amadou.*
The Australians observed by Captain Cook had “ no idea
of traffic, nor,” he says, “could we communicate any to
them : they received the things which we gave them, but
never appeared to understand our signs when we required a
return. The same indifference which prevented them from
buying what we had, prevented them also from attempting
to steal : if they had coveted more, they would have been
less honest.”f In other parts, however, they are more ad-
vanced in this respect. Various kinds of pigments, feathers,
shells, implements, and especially flints, are the principal
articles of barter.
Polygamy is permitted ; but a man who takes more than
two wives is looked upon as a selfish and unreasonable per-
son. If a married man dies, his brother inherits the wife,
who “ goes to her second husband’s hut three days after the
death of her first.” This custom does not say much for the
strength of their affections.
They have no religion, nor any idea of prayer ; but most
of them believe in evil spirits, and all have great dread of
witchcraft. In fact, they have a remarkable superstition
that no one ever dies a natural death.
Captain WilkesJ describes an Australian funeral as follows.
Almost immediately after death the corpse was arranged in
a sitting posture, the knees bent up close to the body, the
head pressed forwards, and the whole body closely tied up in
a blanket. An oval grave was then dug, about six feet
* D’Urville, vol. i., p. 194. + l.c. p. 635.
+ l.c. vol. ii., p. 195. Fitzroy, l.c. vol. ii., p. 628.
23
354
BURIAL. NUMBERS.
long, tliree wide, and five deep, xlt the bottom was a bed of
leaves, covered with an opossum- skin cloak, and with a stuffed
bag of kangaroo-skin for a pillow ; on this the body was laid
with its implements and weapons. Above the corpse were
stream leaves and branches, and the hole was then filled up
with stones. Finally, the earth which had been removed
was put over the whole, making a mound eight or nine feet
high. According to D’Urville, the natives of New South
Wales bury the young, and burn the old.* Other tribes
dispose of their dead in other ways ; but none of them were
addicted to cannibalism as a matter of habit or choice, al-
though they were not unfrequently driven to it by the
scarcity of other food.
No single fact, perhaps, gives us a more vivid idea of the
mental condition of these miserable savages, than the obser-
vation that they cannot count their own fingers — not even
those of one hand. Mr. Crawfurdf has examined the nu-
merals of thirty Australian languages, “and in no instance
do they appear to go beyond the number four.” Mr. Scott
Nind, indeed, has given an account of the Australians of
King George’s Sound to which a vocabulary is annexed,
containing the numerals, which are made to reach the
number five. The term for this last unit, however, turns
out to be only the word “many.” In fact, the word “five”
conveys to them the idea of a great number, as a “ hundred ”
or a “thousand” does to us.
The Tasmanians.
The inhabitants of Van Dieman’s Land were quite as
wretched as those of Australia. According to Captain Cook’s
account they had no houses, no clothes, no canoes, no in-
strument to catch large fish, no nets, no hooks ; they lived
* Voli., p. 472. f Transactions of Etbn. Soc., New Series, vol. ii., p. 84.
TASMANIANS.
355
on mussels, cockles, and periwinkles, and their only weapon
was a straight pole, sharpened at one end.* Mr. Dove in-
forms us that they are entirely without any “moral views
and impressions.” Indeed, he scarcely appears to regard
them as rational beings.f They have no means of expressing
abstract ideas ; they have not even a word for a “ tree.”
Although fire was well known to them, some tribes, at least,
appear to have been ignorant whence it was originally ob-
tained, or how, if extinguished, it could be re-lighted. “In
all their wanderings,” says Mr. Dove, “ they were particularly
careful to bear in their hands the materials for kindling a fire.
Their memory supplies them with no instances of a period in
which they were obliged to draw on their inventive powers
for the means of resuscitating an element so essential to their
health and comfort as flame. How it came originally into
their possession is unknown. Whether it may be viewed as
the gift of nature, or the product of art and sagacity, they
cannot recollect a period when it was a desideratum
It was the part of the females especially to carry a firebrand
in their hands, which was studiously refreshed from time to
time as it became dull and evanescent.” J
Feegee Islanders.
The islands of the Pacific contain two very distinct races
of men — the Negrito and the Polynesian. My space does
not permit me to enter into the interesting questions of their
relationships and affinities.
The inhabitants of the Feegee Islands have been described
by many writers as negroes. They are darker than the
Polynesians. The jaws are larger, and the hair, though not
exactly woolly, is frizzled. They are a powerful race, but not
so graceful as the Polynesians. Their language is, however,
* Third Voyage, vol. i., p. 100. f Tasmanian Jour, of Nat. Sci., yol. i., p. 249.
+ Tasmanian Jour, of Nat. Sci. vol. i., p. 250.
6
FOOD. WEAPONS. HOUSES.
more Polynesian, tlian Negrito. Tlieir institutions, customs,
and manners, were partly Polynesian, partly Negrito.* It
is remarkable that they did not use the consonants “ b,” “ d,”
or “g” without placing “m” or “n” before them, as for
instance Mbau, Nduandua, Ngata. It is well known how
frequent these sounds are in Negro names.
The food of the Feegee Islanders consisted of fish, turtle,
shell-fish, crabs, human flesh whenever it could be obtained,
taro, yams, mandrai, bananas, and cocoa-nuts, in addition to
which the higher classes occasionally indulged in pigs and
fowls. They drank ava habitually, and at all their cere-
monies.
Their weapons consisted of spears, slings, clubs, bows and
arrows. The spears were from ten to fifteen feet long, and
were generally made of cocoa-nut wood ; the end was pointed
and charred ; sometimes, though not often, a sharp bone was
used for the point. They had several kinds of clubs, all
made of iron wood. That most esteemed was about three
feet long, with a heavy knob at the end. Another kind
was somewhat shovel- shaped, and might rather be called
a short sword. The ula was a short heavy club, about
eighteen inches long, with a large and heavy knob. It was
used as a missile, and the natives threw it with great
accuracy and force. These were their principal weapons, the
bows and arrows being weak and light. They were, how-
ever, used in war, as well as in killing fish. The fortified
towns of the Feegeeans had an earthen “ rampart, about six feet
thick, faced with large stones, surmounted by a reed fence or
cocoa-nut trunks, and surrounded by a muddy moat.” f
Their houses were oblong, from twenty to thirty feet long,
and fifteen feet high. They were made of cocoa-nut wood
and tree fern, and were sometimes very well built. They had
* Latham. Varieties of Man, p. 226.
t Williams. Figi and the Figians, vol. i., p. 48.
RELIGION. CANOES.
357
two doorways on opposite sides, from three to four feet high
and four feet wide. The sides were made of posts about
three feet apart, and filled in with wickerwork. The roof
had a steep pitch ; the rafters were generally of palm
wood, thatched with wild sugar cane, under which they
placed fern leaves. A mat served as a door, and a few flat
stones near the middle of the house acted as the fireplace.
The houses were seldom divided by partitions, but the two
ends were raised about a foot, and were covered with layers
of mats on which the natives slept.
Their temples were pyramidal in form and were often
erected on terraced mounds, like those of Central America.*
They also venerated certain upright stones, f resembling those
which we regard as Druidical. The Feegeeans, says Mr.
Hazlewood, “consider the gods as beings of like passions
with themselves. They love and hate ; they are proud and
revengeful, and make war, and kill and eat each other ;
and are, in fact, savages and cannibals like themselves.”
“ Cruelty,” says Captain Erskine, $ “ a craving for blood,
and especially for human flesh as food, are characteristic of
the gods.” Yet the Feegeeans looked upon the Samoans
with horror because they had no religion, no belief in any
such deities, nor any of the sanguinary rites which prevailed
in other islands.
The Feegee canoes were very well constructed. They
were generally double, of unequal size, the smaller one
serving as an outrigger. The larger ones were sometimes
more than a hundred feet in length. The two canoes
were connected by a platform, generally about fifteen feet
wide and projecting two or three feet beyond the sides.
The bottom of each consisted of a single plank ; the
* B. Seemann. In the Vacation Tourist for 1861, p. 269.
f Figi and the Figians, vol. i., p. 220.
+ Journal of a Cruise in the Western Pacific, p. 247.
358
POTTERY. GAMES.
sides were fitted by dovetailing, and closely united by
lashings passed through flanges left on each of the pieces.
The joints were closed by the gum of the bread-fruit tree.
The sails were large, and made of mats. The mast was gene-
rally about half the length of the canoe, and the yard and
boom usually twice as long as the mast. Their principal tool
was an adze, formerly of stone, but now generally of iron.
For boring holes they used the long spines of the echina,
pointed bones, and, when they could get them, nails. Small
teeth, such as those of rats and mice, were used for carving ;
and their knives were made of the outside of a piece of
bamboo, shaped into form while green. After being dried
it was charred, and thus became very hard and sharp, so
that it might be used in surgical operations. They differed
from the Polynesians in using earthenware pots for cooking.
These were graceful and well made, though the potter’s wheel
was unknown. The pottery was all made by women. Their
tools were very simple, consisting of a small round flat stone
to fashion the inside, and a flat mallet or spatula for the
surface, which they made almost as round as if it had been
turned in a lathe. Forks appear to have been long in use
among the Feegeeans; a remarkable fact, if we remember
that they were unknown in Northern Europe until the seven-
teenth century.
The Feegeeans have several kinds of games. They are
fond of swinging, and of throwing stones or fruits at a mark.
They have also a game resembling skittles. Their dances,
like those of so many other nations, are anything but decorous.
Their musical instruments are the conch-shell, the nose-flute,
pipes, a Jew’s-harp made of a strip of bamboo, and several
sorts of drums. They are also fond of poetry.
Their agricultural implements have been described by
Mr. M illiams. The digging-sticks are made of a young
mangrove tree. They are about the size of an ordinary hay
AGRICULTURE. WOMEN.
359
fork, and the lower end “ is tapered off on one side, after the
shape of a quill toothpick. In digging this flattened side is
kept downwards. When preparing a piece of ground for
yams, a number of men are employed, divided into groups of
three or four. Each man being furnished with a digging-
stick, they drive them into the ground so as to enclose a
circle of about two feet in diameter. When, by repeated
strokes, the sticks reach the depth of eighteen inches, they
are used as levers, and the mass of soil between them is thus
loosened and raised.”* The clods are then broken up by boys
with short sticks. Weeding “ is accomplished by means of
a tool used like a Dutch hoe, the workman squatting so as to
bring the handle nearly level with the ground. The blade
used formerly to be made of a bone from the back of a turtle,
or a plate of tortoise-shell, or the valve of a large oyster, or
large kind of pinna. In the windward islands they use a
large dibble, eight feet long, about eighteen inches in cir-
cumference, and tapering to a point. They had also priming
knives of” tortoise-shell lashed to the end of a rod ten feet
long. They are skilful in basket-making, and have good
strong nets, made of creepers or of sinnet.
The women were kept in great subjection. “ The men
frequently tie them up and flog them. Like other property,
wives might be sold at pleasure, and the usual price is a
musket. Those who purchase them may do with them as
they please, even to knocking them on the head.” Erskino,
however, gives a more satisfactory account of the position
held by the women ; and it appears that they are on the
whole more chaste than is the case in some of the other
Pacific Islands; which is saying something for them, but
certainly not much.
Although but scantily clothed, the Feegecans are said to
have been very particular about their garments and their
* Figi and the Figians, vol. i., p. 63.
360
CLOTHES. TATTOO.
paint. They were specially proud of their hair, and if it was
short they wore a wig as a substitute. Some of these wigs
were beautifully made. The men wore “ tapa,” which is a
kind of cloth obtained from the inner hark of the paper-
mulberry, and made into a sash, from three to one hun-
dred yards in length. Six or ten yards is, however, the
usual quantity, and it is passed between the legs and round
the waist.* The women are not permitted to use “tapa,”
and their dress is more scanty than that of the men ; con-
sisting, indeed, only of the “liku,” a kind of band, made of
the bark of hibiscus, and fastened round the waist. It ends
in a fringe, which is worn short by the girls, but longer
after marriage. Nevertheless, though almost naked, the
Feegeeans are said to have been very modest, and if any one
were found entirely without clothes, Captain Wilkes thinks
that the offender would be immediately put to death.
Tattooing is confined to the women, who are ornamented
in this manner on the fingers, the corners of the mouth, and
oddly enough, on those parts of the body which are covered
by the “ liku.” The process is very painful, but submission
to it is regarded as a religious duty, f
The graves of the common people are only marked by a
few stones, but over those of chiefs they build small houses
from two to six feet high, or in some cases erect large cairns
of stone ; these also are sometimes “ set up to mark the spot
where a man has died.” % The body is buried in a sitting
posture. The usual sign of mourning is to crop the hair or
beard, or both. Very often also they burn the skin into
blisters, and cut off the end-joints of the small toe and little
finger.
Among the Feegeeans, parricide is not a crime, but a
custom. Parents are generally killed by their children.
* Figi and the Figians, vol. i., p. 156. f Ibid, p. 160; Wilkes, l.c. p. 355.
+ Figi and the Figians, vol. i., p. 192.
BURIAL.
361
Sometimes the aged people make up their minds that it is
time to die ; sometimes it is the children who give notice to
their parents that they are a burden to them. In either
case, the friends and relatives are summoned, a consultation
takes place, and a day is fixed for the ceremony, which com-
mences with a great feast. The missionaries have often
witnessed these horrible tragedies. On one occasion a young
man invited Mr. Hunt to attend his mother’s funeral, which
was just going to take place. Mr. Hunt accepted the invita-
tion, but when the funeral procession started, he was sur-
prised to see no corpse, and accordingly made enquiries, when
the young savage “ pointed out his mother,* who was walking
along with them, as gay and lively as any of them present,
and apparently as much pleased. . . . He added that it
was from love for his mother that he had done so ; that in
consequence of the same love, they were now going to bury
her, and that none but themselves could or ought to do so
sacred an office she was their mother, and they
were her children, and they ought to put her to death.” In
such cases the grave is dug about four feet deep, the relatives
and friends begin their lamentations, take an affectionate
parting, and bury the poor victim alive. It is surprising
after this to hear that Mr. Hunt regarded the Feegeeans
as being kind and affectionate to their parents, but in fact
“ they considered this custom so great a proof of affection,
that none but children could be found to perform it.”
The fact is that they not only believe in a future state,
but are persuaded that as they leave this life so they will
rise again. f They have, therefore, a powerful motive for
quitting this world before they are weakened by old age ;
and so general was this belief, so powerful the influence
which it had upon them, that in one town containing several
hundred inhabitants, Capt. Wilkes did not see one man over
* Wilkes, l.c. p. 95. f Figi and the Figians, vol. i., p. 183.
362
SUPERSTITION.
forty years of age ; and on asking for tlie old people was
informed that they were all buried. Again, during the first
year of Mr. Ilunt’s residence at Somo-somo, there was only
one instance of natural death ; all the aged and diseased
having been strangled or buried alive.
When a chief died it was usual to “send with him ” some
of his women and some slaves. At the death of Ng-avindi,
Mr. Calvert went to Mbau hoping “ to prevent the strangling
of women, but was too late. Three had been murdered. Tha-
kombau proposed to strangle his sister, the chief wife of the
deceased, as was the usual custom ; but the Lasakau people
begged that she might be spared, and that her child might
become their chief. Ngavindi’s mother offered herself as a
substitute, and was strangled. The dead chief lay in state,
with a dead wife by his side, on a raised platform ; the corpse
of his mother on a bier at his feet, and a murdered servant
on a mat in the midst of the house. A large grave was dug
in the foundation of a house near by, in which the servant
was laid first, and upon her the other three corpses, wrapped
and wound up together.” * In these cases the wives gene-
rally die voluntarily, believing that thus only can they hope
to go to heaven. Horrible as are these facts, they at least
show how strong must be the belief felt in a future state of
existence.
Still, though we may allow the goodness of the motive to
extenuate some of these atrocities, it must be allowed that
human life was but little regarded in Feegee. Not only
infanticide, but also human sacrifices, were very common,
and in fact scarcely anything was undertaken without the
latter. TV hen the king launched a canoe, ten or more men
were slaughtered on the deck, in order that it might be
washed with human blood. But there is even worse to be
told. The Feegeeans were most inveterate cannibals, and so
* Figi and the Figians, vol. ii., p. 301.
CANNIBALISM.
363
fond were they of human flesh, that “ the greatest praise they
can bestow on any delicacy is to say that it is as tender as a
dead man.” Nay, they were even so fastidious as to dislike
the taste of white men,* to prefer the flesh of women to that
of men, and to consider the arm above the elbow, and the
thigh as the best joints ; and so greedy, that human flesh was
reserved for the men, being considered too good to he wasted
upon the women. When the king gave a feast human flesh
always formed one of the dishes, and though the bodies
of enemies slain in battle were always eaten, they did not
afford a sufficient supply, hut slaves were fattened up for the
market. Sometimes they roasted them alive and ate them at
once, while at others they kept bodies until they were far
gone in decay. It a Undre-undre, Chief of Itaki-raki, was
said to have eaten nine hundred persons himself, permitting
no one to share them with him.f
It was not from any want of food that the Feegeeans were
cannibals. On one occasion they offered to the Gfod of War
“ten thousand yams (weighing from six to twelve pounds
each), thirty turtles, forty roots of yaquona (some very large),
many hundreds of native puddings (two tons), one hundred
and fifty giant oysters, fifteen water-melons, cocoa-nuts, a
large number of violet land crabs, taro, and ripe bananas.” J
At a public feast Mr. Williams once saw “two hundred men
employed for nearly six hours in collecting and piling cooked
food. There were six mounds of yams, taro, vakalolo, pigs,
and turtles : these contained about fifty tons of cooked yarns
and taro, fifteen tons of sweet pudding, seventy turtles, five
cartloads of yaquona, and about two hundred tons of un-
cooked yams. One pudding, at a Lakcmha feast, measured
twenty-one feet in circumference.” Yet so habitual has
cannibalism become, that they have no word for a corpse
* So also (lid the Australians, the f Figi and the Figians, vol. i., p. 21 3.
Tongans, and the New Zealanders. % Ibid. vol. i., p. 44.
364
MURDER.
which does not include the idea of something edible. Human
flesh is known as “ puaka balava,” or “long pig.”* “On
contemplating the character of this extraordinary people,”
says Erskine,f “the mind is struck with wonder and awe at
the mixture of a complicated and carefully-conducted political
system, highly finished manners, and ceremonious politeness,
with a ferocity and practice of savage vices which is probably
unparalleled in any other part of the world.” “Murder,”
says Mr. Williams, “is not an occasional thing in Figi, but
habitual, systematic, and classed among ordinary transac-
tions.” i Elsewhere he tells us that no Feegeean ever feels
safe with a stranger at his heels, § and that to be “an ac-
knowledged murderer is the object of the Figian’s restless
ambition.” || On the Island of Yanua Levu, even among the
women, there were “few who had not in some way been
murderers.” 5[ To this they are trained up from infancy.
“ One of the first lessons taught the infant is to strike its
mother.” At Somo Somo, Mr. Williams saw mothers leading
their children “ to kick and tread upon the dead bodies of
enemies.”** No wonder that under these circumstances “ a
happy and united household is most rare.” Indeed it is
nearly impossible, for by an arrangement, which seems
almost incredible, “ brothers and sisters, first cousins, fathers
and sons-in-law, mothers and daughters-in-law, and brothers
and sisters-in-law are severally forbidden to speak to each
other, or to eat from the same dish.” ff Yet amid so much
that is horrible, there is still something in the Feegeean
which redeems his character from utter atrocity. If he hates
* Erskine, l.c. p. 260. Other mam-
malia, when introduced into the South
Sea Islands, received names indicative of
their similarity to this their principal
quadruped : thus the horse was called
the “ man-carrying pig” in Tahiti, tho
sheep was the “ hog with teeth on its
forehead” (Forster, l.c. p. 384).
+ Erskine, l.c. p. 272.
+ Figi and the Figians,vol. i., p. 134.
$ l.c. p. 133.
|| l.c. p. 112.
H l.c. p. 180.
** l.c. p. 177.
ft l.c. p. 136.
MAORIES.
365
deeply, lie also loves truly ; if liis revenge never dies, his
fidelity and loyalty are strong and enduring. Thakombau
was a thorough Feegeean. Almost to the last he opposed
the missionaries. He was not only heathen, hut anti-
christian. At length being converted, he called his people
together, and, says Mr. Calvert, “What a congregation he
had ! — husbands, whose wives he had dishonoured ! widows,
whose husbands he had slain ! sisters, whose relatives had
been strangled by his orders ! relatives, whose friends he
had eaten ! and children, the descendants of those he had
murdered, and who had vowed to avenge the wrongs inflicted
on their fathers!”* Yet even this man — an adulterer, a
parricide, and a cannibal ; whose hands were stained with a
himdred murders — had still something noble and loveable
about him ; so much so indeed that, in spite of his crimes,
he secured the affection, the friendship, even the respect, of
a man so excellent as Mr. Calvert.
The Maories.
The New Zealanders are the most southernly representatives
of the great Polynesian family. Their principal food consisted
of fern roots, which they scorched over the fire, and then
beat with a stick, till the bark and dry outside fell off; the
remainder being a soft substance, rather clammy and sweet,
not unpleasant to the taste, but mixed with numerous stringy
fibres which are very disagreeable, f In the northern dis-
tricts were large plantations of yams and sweet potatoes.
They also cultivated gourds, which were used for vessels, as
they had no pottery. Their only instrument for tillage was
“ a long narrow stake sharpened to an edge at one end, with
a short piece fastened transversely at a little distance above
* Figi and the Figians, lx. vol. ii.,
p. 357.
f Dieffenbach’s New Zealand, vol.
ii., p. 11.
366
FOOD. DRESS.
it, for the convenience of pressing it clown with the foot.’
Their animal food consisted principally of fish and shell-fish,
and Captain Cook observed large shell-mounds near their
houses. They sometimes also, ^hough rarely, killed rails,
penguins, shags, and other birds. -They obtained fire from
two pieces of wood, in the usual manner.* A New Zealand
stone adze is represented in figs. 82-84, p. 73.
The only quadrupeds in the islands were dogs and rats.
They had no hogs, and the dogs were kept entirely for food.
It is remarkable that although in many ways so much farther
advanced in civilisation than the Nootka Columbians, and
although animal food was so much in demand, they seem to
have devised no way of killing the whales which frequented
their coasts. They were, however, skilful in fishing, having
excellent lines, hooks made of hone and shell, and very
large nets which were made of the leaves of a kind
of flax, split into strips of the proper breadth and tied
together. In making the lines the leaves are “ scraped by
a shell, which removes the upper or green part, and leaves
the strong, white fibres, that rim longitudinally along the
under side.” f This kind of cordage has even been pre-
ferred to that made of European hemp.
Of these leaves also they made most of their clothes, for
though acquainted with the manufacture of bark-cloth, it was
very scarce, and worn only as an ornament. The leaves were
split into three or four slips, which were interwoven into a
kind of stuff, something between netting and cloth. Dog’s-
wool was also used for the same purpose. J The dress was
alike in both sexes, and consisted of two parts ; one piece of
their rude cloth (if so it may be called) was tied over the
shoulders and reached to the knees, being fastened in front
* D’Urville, vol. ii., p. 479.
t Fitzroy’s Voyage of the Adventure and Beagle, vol. ii., p. 599.
% D’Urville, vol. ii., p. 500.
ORNAMENTS. HOUSES.
367
by a piece of string- or a bone boclkin ; tbe other piece was
wrapped round the waist, and reached nearly to the ground.
This garment, however, was worn by the men only on par-
ticular occasions.
For ornament they wore combs of wood or bone, feathers,
necklaces, bracelets, and anklets of bones and shells, and
ear-rings made of albatross-down. Many of them had also
small grotesque figures of jade, which were suspended from
the neck and were regarded as very precious. The New Zea-
landers were also tattooed, with great dexterity and elegance ;
not only on the body, but even on the face, the general
effect of which was in many cases far from unpleasant. The
process, however, was extremely painful, so much so, indeed,
that it could not be supported all at once, but was sometimes
spread over several months, or even years. The lips and the
corners of the eyes were the part that hurt most. To have
shrunk from it would, however, have been a great disgrace.
Their houses were about eighteen or twenty feet long,
eight or ten broad, and five or six high. The sides sloped
quite down to the ground, differing in this respect from those
of Tahiti, which are left open at the sides. This was done,
however, not for the sake of privacy, but to keep out the
wind and rain. The sides were made of sticks, closely
thatched with grass and hay, and the door was at one end,
just high enough to admit a man on all fours. Another hole
served both for -window and chimney. The roof was often
carved, and they frequently attached to the end of the ridge
pole a monstrous representation of the proprietor.*
Their villages were all fortified. They chose the strongest
natural situations, and fortified them with a pallisade about
ten feet high. The weaker sides were also defended “by
a double ditch, the innermost of which has a bank, and
an additional pallisade.” The stakes were driven obliquely
* Dieffenbacli, l.c. p. 69.
368
FORTIFICATIONS. WEAPONS. CANOES.
into the ground, so that they projected over the ditch,
which “ from the bottom to the top or crown of the
bank is four-and-twenty feet. Close within the innermost
pallisade is a stage, twenty feet high, forty feet long, and
six broad ; it is supported by strong posts, and is intended
as a station for those who defend the place, from which they
may annoy the assailants by darts and stones, heaps of which
lay ready for use. Another stage of the same kind com-
mands the steep avenue from the back, and stands also
within the pallisade.”* Within the pallisades they had
reduced the ground “not to one level, but to several, rising
in stages one above the other, like an amphitheatre, each of
which is enclosed within its separate pallisade.” These
different platforms communicated only by narrow passages, so
that each one was capable of separate defence ; and they were
provided with large stores of dried fish, fern-
roots, etc. As the natives, when first dis-
covered, had no bows and arrows, nor even
slings, in fact no “ missile weapon except the
lance, which was thrown by hand,” such posi-
tions as these must have been almost impreg-
nable. Their principal weapon was the
patoo patoo (Fig* 150) which was fastened to
the wrist by a strong strap, lest it should be
wrenched from them. They had no defen-
sive armour, but besides their weapons the
chiefs carried a “ staff of distinction.”
Their canoes were well built and re-
sembled those of the other islands. Many
of them, however, were broad enough to sail
without an outrigger. The two ends were
often ingeniously carved.
The dead were wrapped in native cloth, and either buried
* Cook’s First Voyage, p. 343. f Forster’s Observations, l.c. p. 326.
Fig. 150.
Patoo Patoo.
BURIAL. MUSIC. CHARACTER.
369
in a contracted posture, or exposed for a while on small
square platforms ; when the flesh had decayed away, the
bones were washed, and finally deposited in a small covered
box, which was generally elevated on a column in or near
the village.* In some districts, however, they were usually
thrown into the sea, except indeed those that were killed in
battle. These were generally eaten by their enemies. None
of the objects used by the dead during his last illness were
ever employed again ; t they were generally broken or buried
with the deceased. In one case a moa’s egg has been found
in the hands of a dead Maori, who was buried as usual in a
sitting posture. The egg was perfect, + and may have been
intended to serve as food for the dead.
Their principal musical instrument was the flute, of which
they had three or four varieties. D’Urville § also observed
among them a kind of lyre, with three or four strings. They
used large shells, too, as a kind of trumpet. They were very
fond of singing, of poetry, and of dances. The latter were
of two kinds, warlike and amorous.
In character the New Zealanders were proud, jealous,
irritable, cruel, and implacable ; but at the same time sen-
sible, generous, sincere, hospitable, and affectionate. Like
other Polynesians, the Maories were much given to in-
fanticide. || The girls before marriage were allowed great
freedom. When once married, however, the women were
faithful and affectionate to their husbands, by whom, on the
other hand, they were generally treated with both kindness
and respect. On the whole, it must be admitted that the
position of the women among the New Zealanders was far
from unsatisfactory. The Maories were perpetually at war
during life, and hoped to continue so after death. Heaven
* Dieffenbach, l.c. p. 63 ; Fitzroy, l.c. p. 579. t D’Urville, vol. ii., p. 536.
% Zoologist, February, 1865, p. 9454. § l.c. vol. ii., p. 501.
|| Dieffenbach, l.c. p. 16.
24
370
RELIGION.
they regarded as a place where there would be continual feasts
of fish and sweet potatoes ; where they would be always fight-
ing, and always victorious. Whether they can be said to have
had a religion, or not, depends upon the meaning we attach
to the word. They believed in the immortality of the soul,
but not in the resurrection of the body, an article of faith
which, as Mr. Marsden tells us, the missionaries could not
induce them to accept. They had no idea of an Almighty
God, but believed in a spirit named Atoua, who was a cruel
cannibal like themselves. When any one was ill, Atoua was
supposed to be devouring his inside, and they endeavoured
to frighten him away by curses and threats.* This we may
regard as a kind of negative worship ; but on other occasions
they certainly offered human and other sacrifices, in the vain
hope of appeasing his wrath. They did not worship idols,
but many of the priests seem to have really thought that
they had been in actual communication with the Atoua ; and
some of the early missionaries were inclined to believe that
Satan may have been permitted to practise a deception upon
them, in order to strengthen his power. However extra-
ordinary this may appear, the same was the case in Tahiti.
“In addition,” says Mr. Ellis, “ to the firm belief which
many who were sorcerers, or agents of the infernal powers,
and others who were the victims of incantation, still main-
tain, some of the early missionaries are disposed to think
this -was the fact.”f Even Mr. Ellis himself was of the
same opinion. With such low ideas of the Divinity, it is
perhaps not surprising that some of the chiefs were looked
upon as gods, even during life. Watches and white men
also were at first regarded as deities ; the latter not perhaps
unnaturally, as being armed with thunder and lightning.
The cannibalism of the New Zealander was a very different
habit from that of the Feegeean. No’ doubt he enjoyed his
* Missionary Register, Nov. 1819. f Polynesian Researches, vol. ii., p. 226.
CANNIBALISM.
371
meals of human flesh ; all people appear to have done so,
who have once overcome the natural horror which must, one
would suppose, have been at first experienced. But the
cannibalism of a New Zealander was a ceremony, not a meal ;
the object was something very different from mere sensual gra-
tification ; it must he regarded as a part of his religion, as a
sort of unholy sacrament. This is proved by the fact that after
a battle, the bodies which they preferred were not those of
plump young men, or tender damsels, but of the most celebrated
chiefs, however old and dry they might be,* In fact, they
believed that it was not only the material substance which
they thus appropriated, but also the spirit, the ability, and the
glory of him whom they devoured. The greater the number
of corpses they had eaten, the higher they thought would
be their position in the world to come. Under such a creed
there is a certain diabolical nobility about the habit,
which is, at any rate, far removed from the grovelling sen-
suality of a Feegee. To be eaten was, on the other hand, the
greatest misfortune that could happen to a New Zealander ;
since he believed that the soul was thus destroyed as well as
the body. The chief who could both kill and devour his enemy
had nothing more to fear from him either in this world or
the next ; on the contrary, the strength, ability, and prestige
against which he had had to contend, were not only con-
quered, but, by this dreadful process, incorporated with, and
added to his own.
In other cases slaves were killed and eaten in honor of
the gods. The New Zealanders declared that criminals alone
were thus treated. Even if this was the case, the custom was
horrible enough ; but religious persecutions have scarcely
ceased in Europe even now, nor is it so very long since the
fire and the stake were regarded as necessary for the preser-
vation of Christianity itself. E’hongui evidently considered
* D’Urville, vol. ii., p. <547.
372
TAHITI.
that the whole analogy of nature was in favor of cannibalism.
He was surprised at the horror of it felt by D’Urville. Big
fish, he said, eat little fish ; insects devour insects ; large
birds feed upon small ones ; it is in accordance with the
whole analogy of nature that men should eat their enemies.*
Tahiti.
Tahiti, the Queen of Islands, has excited the wonder
and admiration of almost all those by whom it has been
visited. In some respects the Tahitians were surpassed by
other South Sea Islanders ; the Feegeeans, for instance, being
as we have seen, acquainted with pottery, — but on the whole
they may be taken as representing the highest stage in civil-
isation to which man has in any country raised himself before
the discovery or introduction of metallic implements. It is
not, indeed, at all probable that any inhabitants of the great
continents were so far advanced in civilisation during their
Stone age. Doubtless, the Society Islanders would not have
remained without metal, if the country had afforded them
the means of obtaining it. On the other hand, the ancient
inhabitants of Europe were confined to the use of stone-
weapons only until they became acquainted with the su-
periority of, and acquired the art of working in copper,
bronze, or iron ; and it is evident that a nation would in all
probability discover the use of metal, before attaining the
highest pitch of civilisation which, without such aid, it
would be possible for mankind to attain.
The tools of the Tahitians when first discovered were made
of stone, bone, shell, or wood. Of metal they had no idea.
When they first obtained nails, they mistook them for the
young shoots of some very hard wood, and hoping that life
might not be quite extinct, planted a number of them care-
fully in their gardens. f
* Yol. ii., p. 548.
f Ellis, Polynesian Researches, p. 298.
IMPLEMENTS.
373
In a very short time, however, the earlier weapons were
entirely replaced by those of iron ; and in his last voyage
Captain Cook tells us* that “a stone hatchet is, at present,
as rare a thing amongst them, as an iron one was eight years
ago ; and a chisel of bone or stone is not to be seen.”
The stone axes, or rather
Fto. 151.
adzes, were of various
sizes ; those intended for
cutting down trees weigh
six or seven pounds, the
little ones which were used
for carving, only a few
ounces. All of them re-
quired continual sharp-
ening, and a stone was
always kept in readiness
for this purpose. The na-
tives were very skilful in
the use of their adzes,
nevertheless to fell a tree
was a work of several
days. The chisels, or
gouges, were of bone,
generally that of a man’s
arm between the wrist
and elbow. Pieces of co-
ral were used as rasps,
and splinters of bamboo
for knives. For cultiva-
ting the ground they had
instruments of hard wood,
about five feet long, narrow, with sharp edges and pointed.
Stone Axe in wooden handle.
* Voyage to tlie Pacific Ocean, vol. ii., p. 137.
374
FISH-HOOKS. NETS.
These they used as spades or hoes.* They had fish-hooks made
of mother-of-pearl, and every fisherman made them for him-
self. They generally served for the double purpose of hook
no. 152. and bait. “The shell f is first cut into
square pieces, by the edge of another
shell, and wrought into a form cor-
responding with the outline of the hook
by pieces of coral, which are sufficiently
rough to perform the office of a file ; a
hole is then bored in the middle, the
drill being no other than the first stone
they pick up that has a sharp corner ;
ibis they fix into the end of a piece of
bamboo, and turn it between the hands
like a chocolate mill ; when the shell is
perforated and the hole sufficient^ wide,
a small file of coral is introduced, by the
application of which the hook is in a
short time completed, few costing the
artificer more time than a quarter of an
hour. From the bark of the Poerou, a
species of Hibiscus, they made ropes and
lines, from the thickness of an inch to the
south sea Fish-hook. size of a small packtbread ; with these they
make nets for fishing.” They had also a kind of seine net,
made “ of a coarse broad grass, the blades of which are like
flags : these they twist and tie together in a loose manner,
till the net, which is about as wide as a large sack, is from
sixty to eighty fathoms long ; this they haul in shoal-smooth
water, and its own weight keeps it so close to the ground
that scarcely a single fish can escape.” They also used
certain leaves and fruit which, when thrown into the
* Wilson, Missionary Voyage to the South Pacific, p. 245.
f Cook’s Voyage Round the World, vol. i., p. 483 ; vol. ii., p. 218.
BASKETS. MATS. CLOTH.
375
water, inebriated the fish to sucb a degree, that they might
be caught by the hands.* Their fishing-lines were made
of the bark of the Erowa, a kind of nettle which grows in
the mountains, and were described as “ the best fishing-lines
in the world,” better even than our strongest silk lines.
They also used the fibres of the cocoa-nut for making threads,
with which they fastened together the various parts of their
canoes. They were very dexterous in making basket and
wicker-work, “ of a thousand different patterns, many of
them exceedingly neat ; ” they also made many sorts of mats
from rushes, grass, and bark, which were woven with great
neatness and regularity, although entirely by hand and with-
out any loom or machinery, f But their principal manu-
facture was a kind of cloth, made from bark, and of which
there were three varieties, obtained respectively from the
paper-mulberry, which was the best, the bread-fruit tree, and
a kind of fig. This last, though less ornamental, was more
useful than either of the others, because it resisted water,
which they did not. All three kinds of cloth were made in
the same way, the difference between them being only in the
material. When the trees were of a proper size, that is to
say about six or eight feet high, and somewhat thicker than a
man’s thumb, they were pulled up and the roots and branches
were cut off. The bark being slit up longitudinally, it peeled
off readily, and was then soaked for some time in running
water. After this the green outside bark was carefully scraped
off with a shell, and the strips were laid out in the evening to
dry, being placed one by the side of another “till they are
about a foot broad, and two or three layers are also laid one
upon the other.” By the morning a great part of the water
had drained off or evaporated, and “ the several fibres adhere
together, so as that the whole may be raised from the ground
* Forster, Observations made daring a Voyage Round the World, p. 463;
Ellis, vol. ii., p. 288. t Ellis, vol. ii., pp. 179, ISO.
376
DRESS.
in one piece.” It was then placed on the smooth side of a
long piece of wood, and beaten by the women-servants with
a wooden instrument, shaped like a square razor-strap, and
about a foot long. The four sides of this instrument were
“marked, length wajrs, with small grooves or furrows, of
different degrees of fineness; those on one side being of a
width and depth sufficient to receive a small packthread, and
the others finer in a regular gradation, so that the last are
not more than equal to sewing silk.” They beat the cloth
first with the coarsest side and afterwards with the others,
ending with the finest: under this treatment it expanded
greatly, and might be made almost as thin as a muslin. The
different pieces of bark by this treatment were so closely
fastened together, that the cloth might be washed and wrung
out without any fear of tearing ; but even if it were acci-
dentally broken, it was repaired without difficulty, by pasting
on a patch with a gluten prepared from the root of the pea ;
this was done so nicely that it could not be discovered. This
cloth was cool and agreeable to the touch, being even softer
than our broadcloth. It is hardly necessary to say that the
fineness was regulated according to the purpose for which it
was intended. The two first kinds were easily bleached, and
then dyed of various colors, generally red and yellow. Both
of these were vegetable colors, and not very fast.
They had various strange and complicated dresses for great
occasions, but their ordinary clothes were very simple, and
consisted of two parts. One of them was a piece of cloth
with a hole “ in the middle to put the head through,” and
long enough to reach from the shoulder to the knee. The
other was wrapped round the waist so as to hang down like a
petticoat, as low as the knee ; this was called the Parou. Fre-
quently also they wore a piece of cloth tied round the head like
a turban. The dress of the Queen is thus described by Ellis : *
* l.c. p. 148.
ORNAMENTS. HOUSES.
377
“ She was attired in a light, loose, and flowing dress of
beautifully white native cloth, tastefully fastened on the
left shoulder, and reaching to the ancle ; her hair was rather
lighter than that of the natives in general ; and on her
head she wore a light and elegant native bonnet, of green
and yellow cocoa-nut leaves ; each ear was perforated, and
in the perforation two or three flowers of the fragrant Cape
jessamine were inserted.” The dress of the men was very
similar, but instead of the petticoat, they brought the cloth
between the legs ; this was called the Maro. In hot weather*
and at noon both sexes went almost naked, wearing only the
cloth round the waist. Besides the turbans and head-dresses
of leaves, they sometimes wore long plaits of human hair,
which they wound about the head in such a manner as
to produce a very pretty effect. They were very clean
both in their persons and their clothes ; constantly washing
three times a day. Ornaments were worn by the men
as much as by the women, and consisted of feathers,
flowers, pieces of shells, and pearls. Tattooing also was
almost universal ; and a person not properly tattooed would
“ be as much reproached and shunned, as if with us he
should go about the streets naked.” f They anointed their
heads frequently with perfumed cocoa-nut oil, but had no
combs, which in so hot a country must have been much
wanted. Notwithstanding this, the hair of the grown-up
people was very neatly dressed.
Their houses were used principally as dormitories. They
were made of wood, and were generally about twenty-four
feet long, eleven wide, and nine feet high. They had no
side walls, but the roof reached to within about, three feet
and a half of the ground. Palm leaves took the place of
thatch, and the floor was generally covered with soft hay.
* The Sandwich Islanders had small square fans of mat or wicker-work, with
handles of the same or of wood. f Wilson, l.c. p. 355.
378
CANOES. MUSIC.
The canoes resembled those of the Feegeeans, hut are said
to have been scarcely so well built. To prepare the planks
was no easy task, but the great difficulty was to fasten them
together. This was effected by “ strong thongs of plaiting,
which are passed several times through holes that are bored
with a gouge or auger of bone.”* The length of the canoes
varied from ninety feet to ten, “ but the breadth is by no
means in proportion ; for those of ten feet arc about a foot
wide, and those of more than seventy are scarcely two.”f
These larger ones were not, however, used singly, but were
fastened together side by side, in the manner already de-
scribed. A canoe without an outrigger seemed to them an
impossibility, f The labor of constructing these canoes must
have been very great ; nevertheless, the South Sea Islanders
possessed large numbers of them. On one occasion Captain
Cook saw more than three huudred in one place ; and,
without counting the smaller vessels, he estimated the whole
naval force of the Society Islands at one thousand seven
hundred war canoes, manned by sixty-eight thousand men. §
Their principal musical instrument was the drum ; it was
made from a piece of solid wood, hollowed out, and covered over
with shark’s skin. They had also a kind of trumpet made of
a large shell, with a hole at the small end into which they
fastened a bamboo cane about three feet long. Their flutes
were of bamboo, and were blown with the nose. They had
various kinds of games, some of which appeared to have
resembled our hockey and football. They were also very
fond of dancing.
They were quite ignorant of pottery, but had large dishes
made of polished wood. The shells of cocoa-nuts were used
as water-bottles and cups. They were scraped thin, polished,
* Cook’s First Voyage, p. 225; + Ellis, l.c. vol. ii., p. 55.
Forster, /.c. p. 459. § Cook’s Second Voyage, vol. i.,
t Cook’s First Voyage, p. 221. p. 349.
FURNITURE. WEAPONS.
379
often very ingeniously carved, and kept extremely clean.
Generally tlie natives of Tahiti sat cross-legged on mats
spread on the floor ; but the chiefs had often four-legged
stools. Chairs and tables were unknown. They slept
also on mats and used a wooden pillow, very much resem-
bling a small stool. The upper side was curved, like the
seat of the stool, to admit the head. Each house also con-
tained a light post, planted in the floor, and with several
projections, from which the various dishes, calabashes of
water, baskets of food, etc., were hung.*
Their weapons were formidable, though simple. They
consisted of slings, pikes headed with stone, and long clubs
made of hard, heavy wood. With the former they were very
skilful. Their slingstones were of two kinds, “either smooth,
being polished by friction in the bed of a river, or sharp,
angular and rugged ; these were called ofai ara — faced or
edged stones.” f We have already mentioned (p. 76) that
two sorts of slingstones, closely corresponding to these, were
used by the ancient inhabitants of Europe. It would be
interesting to know the relative advantage of the two classes,
which surely cannot have been used for exactly the same
purposes. They had also bows and arrows ; which, however,
were not sufficiently strong to be used in warfare. The bow
strings were made of Roava bark. 7 The Society Islanders
are said to have been cruel in war, but according to
Captain Cook “they are seldom disturbed by either foreign
or domestic troubles.” Though not cowards, they regard it
as “ much less disgraceful to run away from an enemy with
whole bones, than to fight and be wounded.” §
“ Of tame animals they had only hogs, dogs, and poultry ;||
neither was there a wild animal in the island, except ducks,
* Ellis, l.c. vol. ii., p. 184. § Wilson, l.c. p. 363.
f Ellis, l.c. vol. ii., p. 49. || Wallis’ Voyage Round the World ;
+ Wilson, l.c. p. 368. Dawk es worth’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 482.
380
FOOD. FIRE.
pigeons, parroquets, with a few other birds, and rats, there
being no other quadruped, nor any serpent.”* The dogs
were kept entirely for food, and Captain Cook assures us that
“ a South Sea dog was little inferior to an English lamb ; their
excellence is probably owing to their being kept up, and fed
wholly on vegetables.” The natives preferred dog to pork.
From the sea they obtained excellent fish and shell-fish. They
had also bread-fruit, bananas, plantains, yarns, cocoa-nuts, pota-
toes, the sugar cane, a fruit not unlike an apple, and several
other plants which served for fruit, and required very little
culture. The bread-fruit tree suppliod them with abundance
of fresh fruit for eight months, and during the other four
they used “ mahie,” Avhich is a kind of sour paste, prepared
from the fermented ripe fruit. It is probable that nine-
tenths of their diet consisted of vegetable food; and the
common people scarcely ever tasted either pork or dog,
although the hogs appear to have been very abundant.
They obtained fire by friction. When the wood was quite
dry the process did not take longer than two minutes, but in
wet weather it was very tedious. Having no pottery, they
did not boil their food. It is impossible, says Wallis, “to
describe the astonishment they expressed when they saw the
gunner, who, while he kept the market, used to dine on
shore, dress his pork and poultry by boiling them in a pot ;
having, as I have before observed, no vessel that would bear
the fire, they had no idea of hot water.” f Captain Cook
also expressly states that “they have but two ways of ap-
plying fire to dress their food, broiling and baking.” +
Mr. Tylor, however, lias pointed out§ that they were ac-
quainted with the use of boiling stones, and that they
could not therefore have been entirely ignorant of hot
water. In order to bake a hog, they made a small pit
♦ Cook’s Voyage Round the World, p. 187. t l-c. vol. i., p. 484.
+ Second Voyage, vol. ii., p. 197. $ Early History of Mankind, p. 266.
COOKERY. AVA.
381
in the ground, which they paved with large stones, over
which they then lighted a fire. When the stones were
hot enough, they took out the embers, raked away the
ashes, and covered the stones with green cocoa-nut
leaves. The animal which was to be dressed, having been
cleaned and prepared, was wrapped up in plantain leaves,
and covered with the hot embers, on which again they placed
bread-fruit and yams, which also were wrapped up in plan-
tain leaves. Over these they spread the rest of the embers,
and some hot stones, finally covering the whole with earth.
The meat thus cooked is described as being tender and full
of gravy ; in fact both Wallis and Cook considered that it
was “ better in every respect than when it is dressed in any
other way.” For sauce they used salt water, without which
no meal was ever eaten, and a kind of thick paste made from
the kernels of cocoa-nuts. At their meals they drank either
water or cocoa-nut juice. The Sandwich Islanders were
very fond of salt meat, and had regular salt-pans on the
sea-shore.*
The only intoxicating liquor was the ava, an infusion
made from the root, stalks, and leaves of a kind of pepper,
which however, fortunately for them, was entirely forbidden
to the women and seldom permitted to the lower classes.
In some of the other islands this liquid was prepared in a
very disgusting way. The roots were broken in pieces,
cleaned, chewed, and then placed in a wooden bowl, mixed
with a certain quantity of water, and stirred up with the
hands. In Tahiti, however, the chewing was dispensed with.
The wooden bowls out of which the chiefs drank their ava
were often very fair specimens of carving. In the Sand-
wich Islands they are described as having been “usually
about eight or ten inches in diameter, perfectly round, and
beautifully polished. They are supported by three, and
* Third Voyage, vol. iii., p. 151.
382
a chief’s dinner.
sometimes four, small human figures, in various attitudes.
Some of them rest on the hands of their supporters, extended
over the head ; others on the head and hands ; and some on
the shoulders.” These figures are said to have been “ac-
curately proportioned and neatly finished, and even the
anatomy of the muscles, in supporting the weight, well
expressed.”*
Captain Cookf gives an interesting description of the
manner in which the chiefs dined. They had no table, and
each person ate alone and in silence. Some leaves were spread
on the ground to serve as a tablecloth, and a basket was set by
the chief containing his provision, which, if fish or flesh, was
ready dressed and wrapped in leaves. Two cocoa-nut shells
were put by the side, one containing salt water and the other
fresh. He first washed his hands and mouth thoroughly
with the fresh water, and this “ he repeats almost continually
through the meal. He then takes part of his provision out
of the basket, which generally consists of a small fish or two,
two or three bread-fruits, fourteen or fifteen ripe bananas, or
six or seven apples.” He began by eating some bread-fruit,
at the same time breaking one of the fishes into the salt
water. He then took up the bits of fish in his fingers, in
such a manner as to get with it as much salt water as
possible, and very frequently he took a mouthful of the salt
water, either out of the cocoa-nut or in his hand. Sometimes
also he drank the juice of a cocoa-nut. "When he had done
his bread-fruit and fish, he began his plantains or apples,
after which he ate some more bread-fruit, beaten into a sort
of paste and generally flavored with some banana or some
other fruit. For a knife he used either a shell or a piece of
split bamboo, and in conclusion he again washed his hands
and mouth. They were quite unacquainted with forks, and
* Third Voyage, vol. in., p. 148.
t First Voyage, vol. ii., p. 200.
SOLITARY MEALS.
383
Captain Wallis* tells us that, during his visit, one of the
natives who “tried to feed himself with that instrument,
could not guide it, but by the mere force of habit his hand
came to his mouth and tho victuals at the end of the fork
went away to his ear.” Nor do they use plates. Poulaho,
Chief of the Friendly Islands, dining one day on board the
ship, was so much struck by the pewter plates, that Captain
Cook gave him one. He did not, however, intend to employ
it in the usual manner, but said that “whenever he should
have occasion to visit any of the other islands, he would
leave this plate behind him at Tongataboo, as a sort of
representative in his absence.” t
Captain Cook was much surprised to find that a people
who were so sociable, and who enjoyed so much the society
of women, never made their meals together. Even brothers
and sisters had each their own basket, and when they wished
to eat would go out, “ sit down upon the ground, at two or
three yards distance from each other, and turning their faces
different ways, take their repast without interchanging a
single word.” They ate alone, they said, “ because it was
right,” but why it was right they were unable to explain.
We must, however, remember that these islanders were
together much more than we are. We enjoy a sociable
meal, because our numerous avocations keep us apart so
much at other times ; but among a people whose wants
were supplied with so little exertion on their part, who were
all day long together, and had no rooms into which they
could retire and be alone, it must have been a great thing to
have some way of escaping from their friends and being
quiet, without giving offence. As there were no stated times
for meals, a man who wished to be alone need only to take
out his basket of provisions, and he might be sure that he
* Voyage Round tlie World, p. 482.
f Third Voyage, vol. i., p. 32G.
384
SURGERY.
would not be disturbed. This custom, therefore, seems to
have been both ingenious and convenient.*
Although they usually went to bed soon after dark, still the
natives of Tahiti were not entirely without candles ; for
which they used the “kernels of a kind of oily nut, which
they stick one over another upon a skewer that is thrust
through the middle of them.” These candles burned a con-
siderable time and are said to haAre given a pretty good light.
The Society Islanders had no knowledge of medicine as dis-
tinct from witchcraft ; but some wonderful stories are told of
their skill in surgery. I will give perhaps the most extra-
ordinary. “It is related,” says Mr. Ellis, “although,” he
adds, with perfect gravity, “ I confess I can scarcely believe
it, that on some occasions, when the brain has been injured
as well as the bone, they have opened the skull, taken out
the injured portion of the brain, and, having a pig ready,
have killed it, taken out the pig’s brains, put them in the
man’s head, and covered them up.”f
The nostrils of the female infants were often pressed or
spread out during infancy, because the}r looked on a flat nose
as a mark of beauty. In the same way the boys sometimes
had their forehead and the back of their head pressed up-
wards, so that the upper part of the skull appeared in the
shape of a wedge. This was supposed to make them look
more formidable in war. +
The dead were not buried at once, but were placed on a plat-
form raised several feet above the ground, and neatly railed
in with bamboo. The body was covered with a cloth, and
* Since the above was written, I
have met with the following passage in
Burchell : “ I had sufficient reason for
admiring one of the customs of the
Bachapins ; that, notwithstanding they
never at any other time left me alone,
they always retired the moment my
dinner or breakfast was brought to me.
This gave me a few moments’ relief
from the fatigue of incessant conversa-
tion.” Travels in Southern Africa, vol.
ii., p. 408.
f l.c. vol. ii., p. 277.
Ellis, l.c. vol. i., p. 343.
BURIAL. BURIAL-PLACES.
385
sheltered by a roof. By the side are deposited the weapons
of the deceased and a supply of food and water. When the
body has entirely decayed, the bones are collected, carefully
cleaned and buried, according to the rank of the deceased,
either within or without a “morai.”* The largest morai
seen by Captain Cook was the one prepared for Oamo and
Oberea, who were the then reigning sovereigns. This was
indeed the “ principal piece of architecture in the island.
It was a pile of stonework, raised pyramidically, upon an
oblong base, or square, two hundred and sixty seven feet
long, and eighty-seven wide. It was built like the small
pyramidal mounts upon which we sometimes fix the pillar of
a sun-dial, where each side is a flight of steps ; the steps,
however, at the sides, were broader than those at the ends,
so that it terminated not in a square of the same figure with
the base, but in a ridge, like the roof of a house : there
were eleven of these steps, each of which was four feet high,
so that the height of the pile was forty-four feet ; each step
was formed of one course of white coral stone, which was
neatly squared and polished ; the rest of the mass, for there
was no hollow within, consisted of round pebbles, which,
from the regularity of their figure, seemed to have been
wrought.”! A very similar account of this structure has
been more recentty given by Wilson, £ who makes the size
and height a little greater ; and when it is considered that
this was raised without the assistance of iron tools to shape
the stones, or of mortar to fasten them together, it is im-
possible not to be struck with admiration at the magnitude
* In some cases the head is not
buried with the other bones, hut is
deposited in a kind of box.
f Cook’s Voyage Round the World,
vol. ii., p, 166. Similar but somewhat
smaller morais were observed in the
Sandwich Islands (Third Voyage, vol.
iii., p. 6). In the Friendly Islands,
D’Urville saw a similar mausoleum
built with blocks of stone, some of
which were twenty feet long, six or
eight broad, and two in height. They
were neatly squared, l.c. vol. iv.,p. 106.
% l-c. p- 207.
25
386
RELIGION.
of the enterprise, and the skill with which it appears to have
been carried out. It is, perhaps, the most important monu-
ment which is known to have been constructed with stone
tools only, and renders it the less unlikely that some of the
large tumuli and other ancient monuments of Europe may
belong to the Stone age. When a chief died, his relations
and attendants cut and mangled themselves in a dreadful
manner. They ran spears through their thighs, arms, and
cheeks, and beat themselves about the head with clubs “ till
the blood ran down in streams.” They also frequently cut
off the little finger on these occasions ; a curious custom,
which is common also in the Friendly Islands.
In Tiarrabou, Captain Cook saw a rude figure of a man,
made of basket-work and about seven feet high. This was
intended as a representation of one of the inferior gods, but
was said to be the only one on the island ; for the natives,
though they worshipped numerous deities, to whom also
human sacrifices were sometimes offered, yet were not
idolators. Ellis, however, saw among them many rude
idols.* Captain Cook found their religion “like that of
most other countries, involved in mystery, and perplexed
with apparent inconsistencies.”! They believed in the im-
mortality of the soul, and in “two situations of different
degrees of happiness, somewhat analogous to our heaven and
hell,” but far from regarding them as places of reward and
punishment, thought that the happiest lot was of course
intended for the chiefs and superior classes, the other for
the people of inferior rank. + Indeed, they did not suppose
that their actions here in the least influenced their future
state ; so that their religion did not act upon them by pro-
mises or threats, and “their expressions of adoration and
* Ellis, l.c. vol. i., p. .526 ; Wilson, l.c. p. 242.
f See also Forster, l.c. p. 539.
x Cook’s First Voyage, vol. ii., p. 239 : Ellis, vol. i., p. 518.
CHARACTER.
387
reverence, whether by words or actions, arise only from a
humble sense of their own inferiority, and the ineffable ex-
cellence of divine perfection.” However mistaken they may
have been on many points, however wrong many of their
customs doubtless appear to us, surely under such a creed as
this, good actions become doubly virtuous, and virtue itself
shines the brighter.
They had no laws, nor courts of justice. Personal security
and the rights of private property were but little regarded
among them. The chiefs and priests exercised an authority
founded on fear and supei'stition. They had no word for
“law” in the language.* It is only fair to the chiefs to add
that they were above being idle, and thought it a disgrace if
they did not excel in all departments of labor. f In character
the inhabitants of Tahiti, according to Captain Cook, “ were
liberal, brave, open, and candid, without either suspicion or
treachery, cruelty, or revenge.” % They were very anxious
for education. The women were affectionate, tender, and
obedient ; the men mild, generous, slow to take offence,
and easily satisfied. Both sexes were very healthy. “ I
never saw any one,” says Forster, § “of a morose, peevish,
discontented disposition in the whole nation ; they all join to
their cheerful temper, a politeness and elegance which is
happily blended with the most innocent simplicity of man-
ners.” Murders were very rare among them ; and though
much licence was permitted to the young women before
marriage, the married women, according to Captain Cook, ||
were as well behaved “as in any other country whatever.”
They were very thievish ; but we must consider the immense
temptations to which they were subjected and the, to them,
inestimable value of the articles which they stole. Like
* Ellis, l.c. vol. ii., p- 427. § l.c. p. 582.
f Ellis, l.c. vol. ii. p. 178. || Voyage to the South Foie, rol. i.,
+ First Voyage, vol. ii., p. 188. p. 187.
388
CHARACTER.
other savages they resembled children in many respects,
their sorrows were transient, their passions suddenly and
strongly expressed. On one occasion, Oberea, the queen,
who was then about forty years old, took a particular fancy
to a large doll, which was accordingly presented to her.
Shortly afterwards they met Tootahah, one of the principal
chiefs, who became so jealous of Oberea’s doll, that they
were obliged to give him one also.
There are scarcely any nations, whether barbarous or
civilised, in which the relations of the two sexes are quite
satisfactory. Savages, almost without exception, treat their
women as slaves, and civilised nations too often avoid this
error only to fall into others.
The inhabitants of Tahiti are said to have been absolutely
< without any ideas of decency, or rather as Captain Cook puts
it, perhaps more correctly, “ of indecency.” This no doubt
arose in part from their large open houses, which were not
divided into separate rooms. However this may be, where
there was no sin, they saw no shame, and it must be confessed
that in many points their idea of sin was very different from
ours. Before, however, we condemn them, let us remember
that a dinner party would have seemed as wrong to them as
many of their customs do to us. If the freedom both in
language and in action which they permitted to themselves,
seems to us in many respects objectionable, we must not
forget that our ideas of delicacy shut out from general con-
versation many subjects of great interest and importance.
A considerable number of the principal people of both
sexes in Tahiti were formed into an association called the
“Arreoy,” all the members of which were regarded as being
married to one another. If any of the women of the society
had a child it was almost invariably killed ; but if it was
allowed to live, the father and mother were regarded as
having definitively engaged themselves to one another, and
CHARACTER.
389
were ejected from the association ; the woman being known
from that time as a “ bearer of children,” which was among
this extraordinary people a term of reproach. The existence
of such a society shows how fundamentally the idea of virtue
may differ in different countries. Yet the married women were
faithful to their husbands, and beautifully modest. It is impos-
sible, indeed, to accjuit even them of the charge of infanticide,
for which we may find a cause, though not an excuse. I do not
allude to the curious law that a child, as soon as it was born,
inherited the titles, rank, and property of its father, so that a
man who was yesterday a chief might be thus at once reduced
to the condition of a private person ; nor to the fact that any
Arrcoy who spared her infant was at once excluded from
that society. We cannot suppose that such customs were
without their effect ; but a more powerful reason may per-
haps be found in the fact, that their numbers were already
large, the means of subsistence limited, and that as but few
were carried off either by disease or in war, the population
would soon have outgrown their supplies, if some means were
not taken to check the natural increase of numbers.* How-
ever this may be, infanticide appears to have been dreadfully
prevalent amongst them. It has been estimated that two-
thirds of the children were destroyed by their own parents,!
and both Mr. Nott and Mr. Ellis agree that during the whole
of their residence in the island, until the adoption of Christi-
anity, they did not know a single case of a mother who had
not been guilty of this crime.
According to "Wilson,! their language contained no word for
“ thanks,” and even Cook admits that they had no respect for
old age. Fitzroy goes still farther, and assures us that “they
scrupled not to destroy their aged or sick — yes, even their
parents, if disabled by age or sickness. Ӥ No such accusa-
* Sec, for instance, Kotzebue’s New Voyage, vol. i., p. 308.
f Ellis, vol. i., pp- 334, 336. J l.c. p. 365. $ l.c. Vol. ii. p. 551.
390
CHARACTER.
tion is, however, brought against them by earlier writers,
so that such actions are probably very rare, ancl the result
perhaps, as among the Feegeeans, of misdirected affection
rather than of deliberate cruelty.
They had no money ; and though it was easy to obtain
the necessaries of life, to accumulate property was almost
impossible. Again, the absence of spirituous liquors, and
the relations between the sexes (however unsatisfactory in
other respects) took away from them some of the principal
incentives to crime. On the Avhole, then, if we judge them
by a South Sea standard, the natives of the Society Islands
appear to have been very free from crime.
In spite of the differences which sometimes arose in conse-
quence of their thievish disposition, and also perhaps in great
measure from their not being able perfectly to understand
each other, Captain Cook and his officers lived with the
natives “in the most cordial friendship,” and took leave of
them with great regret. Mr. Ellis, on the contrary, assures
us that “ no portion of the human race was ever perhaps
sunk lower in brutal licentiousness and moral degradation
than this isolated people.”* Such a statement is surely quite
inconsistent with the account he gives of their anxiety to
possess copies of the Bible when it was translated into their
language. “ They were,” he says, “ deemed by them more
precious than gold — yea, than much fine gold,” and “ became
at once the constant companion of their possessors, and the
source of their highest enjoyment. ”f
The inhabitants of the Friendly, or Tonga, and of the Sand-
wich Islands are also very well described by Capt. Cook, but
they belonged to the same race as those of Tahiti and New
Zealand, and resembled them in religion, language, canoes,
houses, weapons, food, habits, etc. It is somewhat remarkable
that the Sandwich Islanders in many respects, as for instance
* Ellis, l.c. vol. ii. p. 25. + Ellis, l.c. vol. i. pp. 393-408.
THE TONGANS.
391
in their dances, houses, tattooing, etc., resembled the New
Zealanders even more than their nearer neighbours in the
Society and Friendly Islands. In the Friendly Islands Capt.
Cook observed a very singular luxury in which the chiefs
indulged themselves. When one of them wished to go to
sleep, two women came and sat by him, “ heating briskly on
his body and legs with both fists, as on a drum, till he fell
asleep, and continuing it the whole night, with some short
intervals.” When the chief is sound asleep they sometimes
rest themselves a little, “but resume it if they observe any
appearance of his waking.”* A similar statement is made by
Wilson in his Missionary Voyage, f In all the islands the
chiefs appear to have been treated with respect none the less
profound, because shown in ways which seem to us peculiar.
One of them was to uncover the body from the waist, and it
seems to have been a matter of indifference, or rather of con-
venience, whether this was done upwards or downwards. +
In the Friendly Islands it was accounted a striking mark of
rudeness to speak to the king while standing up.
There was also a certain amount of commerce between the
different islands. Bora-bora and Otahaw produced abundance
of cocoa-nut oil, which was exchanged at Tahiti for cloth.
The Low Islands again could not successfully grow the paper-
mulberry ; but they had a breed of dogs with long silky
hair, which was much prized in the other islands.
* Third Voyage, vol. i., p. 323. f l.c. p. 237.
J Cook’s First Voyage, vol. ii., p. 125.
392
CHAPTER XII.
MODERN SAVAGES Continued.
Esquimaux.
fJTHE Esquimaux, and the Esquimaux alone among savage
I races, occupy both the Old and the New World.
They inhabit the shores of the Arctic Ocean from Siberia
to Greenland ; and throughout this great extent of country
the .language, appearance, occupations, weapons, and habits
of the natives are very similar, and it must be added that
the latter arc most ingenious. The language of the Innuit
or Esquimaux is akin to that of the North American Indians
in structure, while their appearance has a decided likeness,
particularly about the eyes, to the Chinese and Tartars.
Their dwellings are of two kinds. The summer they pass
in tents or wigwams, with the entrance to the south or
south-east. In those observed by Captain Parry, the tent-
poles were, in the absence of wood, formed of stags’ horns,
or bones lashed together. The lower borders of the skins
were held down by large stones. These were sometimes built
up into regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter and
tour or five feet high.* These circles were at first supposed
to be the remains of winter-houses, but it was subsequently
ascertained that they were exclusively used for extending the
skins of the summer-tents. Near these “ hut circles ” long
rows of standing stones were several times observed. f The
winter-houses, in the southern districts are constructed of
* Parry’s Voyage, 1821-3, pp. 17, 51. t lc. pp. 62, 285, 363.
ESQUIMAUX.
393
earth or drift- timber, which is very abundant in some places.
In the north, however, wood becomes extremely rare. The
Esquimaux at the northern end of Baffin’s Bay,* who had
no wood, excepting twigs of a dwarfish heath, were so little
acquainted with the nature of timber that several of them
successively seized on the spare top-mast of the Isabella,
evidently with the intention of stealing it, and quite
unconscious of its weight. In the absence of wood their
houses were built of ice and snow ; those of ice are
beautiful, and almost transparent, so that even at some
little distance it is possible, to see everything that takes place
in them. They are much colder than those of snow, which
therefore are generally preferred. West of the liocky
Mountains, the winter houses were usually underground.
A Kamskatehadale “ yourt ” is thus described by Captain
Cook:f “An oblong square, of dimensions proportionate
to the number of persons for whom it is intended (for it
is proper to observe that several families live together in
the same jourt), is dug into the earth to the depth of about
six feet. Within this space strong posts, or wooden pillars,
are fastened in the ground, at proper distances from each
other, on which are extended the beams for the support of
the roof, which is formed by joists resting on the ground
with one end and on the beams with the other. The inter-
stices between the joists are filled up with a strong wicker-
work, and the whole covered with turf ; so that a jourt has
externally the appearance of a low round hillock. A hole is
left in the centre, which serves for chimney, window, and
entrance, and the inhabitants pass in and out by means of a
strong pole (instead of a ladder) notched deep enough to
afford a little holding for the toe.” More often, however,
the entrance consisted of an underground passage.
* Ross, Baffin’s Bay, p. 122.
f Cook’s Voyages to the Pacific Ocean, vol. iii. p. 374. See also vol. iii. p. 450.
394
DWELLINGS.
As a general rule we may say that the western yourts are
subterranean, while those of the tribes who live east of the
Rocky Mountains are generally above ground. The manner
in which the Esquimaux construct their snow igloos has
been well described by Captain Parry. They choose* a
drift of hard and compact snow, and from this they cut
oblong slabs, six or seven inches thick and about two feet in
length. With these they build a circular wall, inclining
inwards so as to form a dome, which is sometimes as much
as nine or ten feet high and from eight to fifteen feet in
diameter. A small door is then cut on the south side. It is
about three feet high, two and a half wide at the bottom, and
leads into a passage, about ten feet long, and with a step in
the middle, the half next the hut being lower than either
the floor of the hut or the outer passage. For the admission
of light a round hole is cut on one side of the roof and a
circular plate of ice, three or four inches thick and two feet
in diameter, is let into it. If several families intend to live
together, other chambers are constructed which open into the
first, and then after a quantity of snow has been shovelled
up on the outside, the shell of the building is regarded as
finished. The next thing is to raise a bank of snow two and
a half feet high all round the interior of the building, except
on the side next the door. This bank forms the bed. Over
it is laid some gravel, upon that again paddles, tent-poles,
pieces of whalebone, twigs of birch and of andromeda, etc.,
and finally a number of deer-skins, which form a soft and
luxurious couch. They have no fireplace, properly so called,
that is to say no hearth, but each family has a separate lamp
or shallow vessel of lapis ollaris, in which they burn seal’s-
oil, with a wick made of dry moss.
Although they had no knowledge of pottery, Captain Cook
saw at Unalashka vessels “of a flat stone, with sides of clay,
* Tarry, l.c. p. 500.
DWELLINGS.
395
not unlike a standing pye.”* We here obtain an idea of
the manner in which the knowledge of pottery may have
been developed. After using clay to raise the sides of their
stone vessels, it would naturally occur to them that the same
substance would serve for the bottom also, and thus the use
of stone might be replaced by a more convenient material.
The snow houses melt away every spring ; but in some places
the Esquimaux construct their dwellings on a similar plan,
but with the bones of whales and walruses on a foundation of
stones, and with a covering of earth. The snow-houses are
of course pretty clean at first, but they generally become
very filthy. The bone-huts are even dirtier, because more
durable. “ In every direction round the huts,” says Captain
Parry, “ were lying innumerable bones of walruses and seals,
together with skulls of dogs, bears, and foxes, on many of
which a part of the putrid flesh still remaining sent forth
the most offensive effluvia. ”f He even observed a number
of human bones lying about among the rest. J The inside of
the huts, “ from their extreme closeness and accumulated
filth, emitted an almost insupportable stench, to which an
abundant supply of raw and half-putrid walrus flesh in no
small degree contributed.” §
On the north-western coasts of America the natives find
plenty of drift-wood, and the floors of their yourts arc, accord-
ing to Belcher, made of split timber, nicely smoothed and care-
fully caulked with moss. Underneath is often a large store-
room, for in summer they kill many reindeer, whales, walrus,
seals, swans, ducks, etc., the greater part of which arc laid by
for winter use. One of these winter stores is thus expressively,
though somewhat hastily, described by Sir E. Belcher : || “ It was
frozen into a solid mass beneath, but loose from those on the
* Cook’s Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, vol. ii., p. 510.
f Parry, l.c. p. 280. J Sec also Lyon’s Journal, p. 236.
$ Parry, l.c. p. 358. || Trans. Ethn. Soc., New Ser., vol. i., p. 132.
396
COOKERY.
surface, and seemed to be incorporated, by some unexplained
process, into a gelatinous snoiu, which they scraped up easily
with the hand and ate with satisfaction — fish-oil predomi-
nating. It was not offensive nor putrid. How many years
the lower mass may have remained there I could not deter-
mine ; but estimating the supply in one yourt as proportioned
for ten people — the allowance of inhabitants for each yourt
— the daily proportion for the complete store would allow for
three hundred days, or about twenty-four pounds per soul.”
lie estimates the quantity of solid meat in this storehouse
alone at 71,424 pounds. Captain Boss also mentions* the
large stores of food laid up by the Esquimaux of Boothia
Felix during the summer for winter use. The habit does not,
however, appear to be general among the Esquimaux, though
they all of them make “ caches ” of meat under stone cairns.
Charlevoix derives the name Esquimaux from the Indian
word Eskimantsik, which means “eaters of raw food many
of these northern tribes being in the habit of eating- their
meat uncooked. We must in justice to them remember
that several of our Arctic Expeditions have adopted the
same custom, which seems indeed in those latitudes, highly
conducive to health. f
Their food if cooked at all is broiled or boiled. Their
vessels being of stone or wood cannot, indeed, bo put on
the fire ; but heated stones are thrown in until the water
becomes hot enough, and the food is cooked. Of course,
the result is a mess of soot, dirt, and ashes, which would,
according to our ideas, be almost intolerable ; but, if the
stench of their houses does not take away a man’s appetite,
nothing else would be likely to do so. They never wash their
pots or kettles ; the dogs save them this trouble. Those who
* Narrative of a Second Voyage, p. 251 ; and Appendix, p. 21. See also
Ilalls Life with the Esquimaux, vol. ii., p. 311 ; Kane’s Arctic Explorations,
vol. ii., p. 133.
t See, for instance, Kane’s Arctic Explorations, vol. ii., p. 14.
FOOD.
397
have arrived at a dim consciousnes of their dirtiness, do
generally hut make matters worse, for if they wish to
treat a guest “genteelly, they first lick the piece of meat
he is to eat clean from the blood and scum it had con-
tracted in the kettle, with their tongue ; and should any
one not kindly accept it, he would be looked upon as an
unmannerly man for despising their civility. ” * The Esqui-
maux observed by Dr. Rae at Repulse Ray were, however,
much cleaner in their habits.
Their food consists principally of reindeer, musk ox, walrus,
seals, birds, and salmon. They will, however, eat any kind
of animal food. They are very fond of fat and marrow,
to get at which they pound the hones with a stone. The
southern tribes get a few berries in summer, hut those who
live in the north have scarcely any vegetable food except
that which they obtain in a half-digested form from the
stomach of the reindeer, and this they regard as a great
delicacy ; t the northernmost of all, being unable to kill
reindeer, are entirely deprived of vegetable food. Their
drink consists of blood or water, of which they consume
large quantities ; thawing snow over a lamp, which is
generally made of lapis ollaris.
“I was once present,” £ says Captain Cook, “when the
chief of Oonalashka made his dinner of the raw head of a
large halibut, just caught. Before any was given to the
chief, two of his servants eat the gills, without any other
dressing besides squeezing out the slime. This done, one of
them cut olf the head of the fish, took it to the sea and
washed it, then came with it and sat down by the chief:
first pulling up some grass, upon a part of which the head
was laid, and the rest was strewed before the chief. He
* Crantz, p. 168 ; Parry, Second Voyage, p. 293; Lyon’s Journal, p. 142.
f Ross. Narrative of a Second Voyage, p. 352.
X Cook’s Third Voyage, vol. ii., p. 511.
398
FOOD.
then cut large pieces off the cheeks, and laid these within the
reach of the great naan, who swallowed them with as much
satisfaction as we should do raw oysters. When he had
done, the remains of the head were cut in pieces, and given
to the attendants, who tore off the meat with their teeth,
and gnawed the hones like so many dogs.”
Captain Lyon gives an even more disgusting account of
an Esquimaux meal. “ Fi'om Kooilittuck,” * he says, “I
learnt a new Eskimaux luxury : he had eaten till he was
drunk, and every moment fell asleep, with a flushed and
burning face, and his mouth open : by his side sat Arnalooa
(his wife), who was attending her cooking pot, aiad at short
intervals awakened her spouse, in order to cram as much as
was possible of a large piece of half-boiled flesh into his
mouth with the assistance of her forefinger, and having
filled it quite full, cut off the morsel close to his lips. This
he slowly chewed, and as soon as a small vacancy became
perceptible, this was filled again by a lump of raw blubber.
During this operation the happy man moved no part of him
but his jaws, not even opening his eyes; but his extreme
satisfaction was occasionally shown by a most expressive
grunt, whenever he enjoyed sufficient room for the passage
of sound. The drippings of the savoury repast had so
plentifully covered his face and neck, that I had no hesita-
tion in determining that a man may look more like a beast
by over-eating than by drinking to excess. The women
having fed all their better halves to sleep, and not having
neglected themselves, had now nothing to do but to talk and
beg as usual.”
A feast among some of the more civilised Esquimaux of
Greenland is thus described by Crantz.f “A factor being
invited to a gi’eat entertainment with several topping Green-
* Lyon’s Journal, p. 181 ; see also Ross, l.c. p. 448.
t History of Greenland, vol. i., p. 172.
FOOD.
399
landers, counted the following dishes: 1. Dried herrings. 2.
Dried seal’s flesh. 3. Boiled ditto. 4. Half raw and rotten
ditto, called Mikiak. 5. Boiled willocks. G. A piece of a
half rotten whale’s tail : this was the dainty dish or haunch
of venison to which the guests were properly invited. 7.
Dried salmon. 8. Dried reindeer venison. 9. A dessert of
cro wherries mixed with the chyle out of the maw of a rein-
deer. 10. The same, enriched with train oil.”
During the greater part of the year they have considerable
difficulty in obtaining water enough even to drink. It may
seem surprising that people who arc surrounded by snow
and ice should suffer for want of water, hut the amount of
heat required to melt snow is so great, that a man with-
out the means of obtaining fire might die of thirst in
these arctic regions as easily as in the sandy deserts of
Africa. Any direct “ resort to snow,” says Kane, “ for the
purpose of allaying thirst was followed by bloody lips and
tongue ; it burnt like caustic.” * When the Esquimaux
visited Captain Parry, they were always anxious for water,
which they drank in such quantities, “ that it was impossible
to furnish them with half as much as they desired.” f In
the extreme north one of the principal duties of the women
in the winter is to thaw snow over their lamps, feeding the
wick with oil, if it does not rise well of its own accord ; J
the natural heat of the room is not sufficient to melt snow,
as the temperature of the huts is always kept if possible
below the freezing-point. In South Greenland, however,
the huts are built of turf, etc., and are very warm. § But
we must remember that coolness, rather than heat, is re-
quired by the Esquimaux who live in snow dwellings,
because if the temperature rises to thirty-two degrees, the
continual dripping from the roof produces extreme incon-
* Arctic Explorations, vol. i., p. 190. f l.c. p. 188.
I Osborn’s Arctic Journal, p. 17. $ Egcde, l.c. p. 116.
400
FIRE.
venience ; and, in fact, the most unhealthy season is the
spring, when the weather is too warm for snow huts, and too
cold for tents. Thus, therefore, the Esquimaux, though living
in a climate so extremely rigorous, would be debarred from the
use of fires by the very nature of their dwellings, even if they
were able to obtain the necessary materials. They never, says
Simpson, “seem to think of fire as a means of imparting
warmth their lamps are used for cooking, for light, and
for melting snow and drying clothes, rather than to warm
the air,f and as, nevertheless, the body temperature of the
Esquimaux is almost the same as ours, it is evident that they
must require a large amount of animal food. The quantity
of meat which they consume is astonishing ; and it is worthy
of remark that from the scarcity of wood in the far north,
they use the same substance for food and fuel ; the calorific
material being the same — namely, blubber — whether the heat
is to be obtained by digestion or combustion ; whether the
material is to be placed in a lamp and burnt, or to be eaten
and digested. In summer, however, when it is less neces-
sary to keep down the general temperature, they sometimes
burn bones well saturated with oil. For obtaining fire the
Esquimaux generally use lumps of iron pyrites and quartz,
from which they strike sparks on to moss which has been
well dried and rubbed between the hands. + They are also
acquainted with the method of obtaining it by friction, §
which is a slower and more laborious process. It appears,
however, to be the one generally pursued by the Greenland
Esquimaux. ||
It has been generally assumed that man could scarcely live
in temperate climates, and certainly not in the arctic regions,
without the advantage of fire. From the above facts, how-
* Discoveries in North America, p. 346. f Kane, l.c. vol. ii., p. 202.
+ Kane, l.c. vol. i., p. 379; Parry, l.c. p. 504; Ross, l.c. p. 513.
§ Lyon’s Journal, p 290. || Egede, l.c. p. 138.
FIRE. IMPLEMENTS.
401
ever, as well as from others which will presently he re-
corded, it may be doubted whether this is really the case.
Esquimaux do not use fire to warm their dwellings ; cookery
is with them a refinement, and even the melting of snow
might be effected by the natural heat of the body. In fact,
those Esquimaux who live on reindeer, more than on seal,
having little blubber, make small use of fire.
In the South the men have bows and arrows, harpoons,
spears, lines, fish-hooks, knives, snow -knives, ice -chisels,
snow-shovels, groovers, drill-bows, drills, etc. The women
have lamps and stone-kettles, lamp-moss, pieces of iron-
pyrites, bone needles, pieces of sinew, scrapers (figs. 76-78),
horn spoons, sealskin vessels, pointed bones, marrow- spoons,
and knives. They have generally also, according to Dr. Dae,
a small piece of stone, bone, or ivory, about six inches long
and half an inch thick ; this is used for arranging the wicks
of the lamps.
Kane gives the following inventory of an Esquimaux hut
visited by him : a sealskin cup, for gathering and holding
water ; the shoulder-blade of a walrus, to serve as a lamp ; a
large flat stone to support it ; another large, thin, flat, stone
to support the melting snow : a lance-head, with a long coil
of walrus line ; a stand for clothes ; and the clothes them-
selves completed the whole worldly goods of this poor family.*
On their travelling expeditions even less than this is neces-
sary ; raw meat and a fur bag are all that they require.
The implements of the Esquimaux are few and simple, but
very ingenious. The women use knives of a semicircular
form, and very similar to the curious semilunar knives (pi. 1,
fig. 3) which are so common in Denmark. They are, how-
ever, now made of metal, which the Southern Esquimaux have
been enabled to obtain, though in small quantities, from the
* Kane’s Arctic Explorations, vol. i., p. 381.
26
402
WEAPONS. BOWS AND ARROWS.
Avrow-hcad.
Europeans. Some few of them also break off bits of meteoric
iron, which they hammer to an edge, and then fix in a handle
of horn or bone. The arrow-heads are of several kinds
no. 153. and shapes. They are made not by blows, but
by pressure, for which purpose they use the point
of a reindeer’s horn, set in bone ; fiq- 154-
bone itself would not be tough
enough. The shafts of the arrows
are short, straightened by steam,
| and provided with feathers at the
butt end. These arc fastened on
if) by deer sinews. The bows are
generally of wood, either made
of one piece steamed into the
right form, or of three parts most ingeni-
ously fastened together, and strengthened
by pieces of bone or sinew. When wood
cannot be obtained, they use bone or horn.
They do not appear to be particularly good
shots ; but Captain Parry * thinks that they
would generally hit a deer from forty to
forty-five yards, if the animal stood still. f
The spears are made like the arrows, but
are larger ; the heads also are frequently
barbed, and in many cases fit loosely into
the shaft, but are securely fastened to a
long leathern thong, which is tied to the
butt end of the spear. For throwing the
harpoon they use a short handle or throw- Spear-head,
ing-stiek, about two feet long, narrow below, four inches
* l.c p. 511.
f The Esquimaux of Greenland have
long abandoned the bow and arrow,
using guns obtained from the Danes.
In many other respects also their an-
cient habits have been modified, and
their condition greatly improved, by
this intercourse.
SPEARS. HARPOONS.
403
■wide above, and with a notch on each side for the thumb
and forefinger. With these weapons they attack not only
seals and walruses, hut even whales. They strike the whale,
if possible, at the same time with many harpoons, “ to which
bladders are hung, made of great seal-skins, several of which
so encumber and stop the whale, that it cannot sink deep.
When he is tired out, they dispatch him quite with their
little lances.” Kane gives the figure of a lance, the blade of
which closely resembles one of the longer “axes” from the
Danish shell-mounds.*
The Esquimaux have three principal ways of killing
seals. The commonest is with the harpoon and bladder.
When an Esquimaux in his kayak “ spies a seal, he
Fig. 155.
Bone Harpoon.
tries to surprise it unawares with the wind and sun in
his back, that he may not be heard or seen by it. He
tries to conceal himself behind a wave, and makes hastily
but softly up to it till he comes within four, five, or six
fathoms of it ; meanwhile he takes the utmost care that
the harpoon, line, and bladder lie in proper order. ”f As
soon as the seal is struck the point of the spear detaches
itself from the shaft, and at the same moment the Esquimaux
throws the large air bladder on to the water. This is often
dragged under water a little way, but it is so great an im-
pediment, that the seal is soon obliged to come up. “ The
Greenlander hastens to the spot where he sees the bladder
rise up, and smites the seal as soon as it appears” with the
great lance or “angovigak.” This is not barbed, and does
* Arctic Explorations, vol. ii., p. 129.
f Crantz, p. 154.
404
MODES OF HUNTING AND FISHING.
not therefore remain in the seal’s body, but can be used
ao-ain and a^ain until the animal is exhausted. The second
way is the “clapper-hunt.” If the Esquimaux find, or can
drive any seals into the creeks or inlets, they frighten them
by shouting, clapping, and throwing stones every time they
come up to breathe, until at last they are exhausted and easily
killed. In winter, when the sea is frozen, the seals, which
are obliged to come up from time to time for the sake of air,
keep open certain breathing holes for this purpose, and the
Esquimaux, when he has found one of these, waits patiently
till the seal makes its appearance, when lie kills it instantly
with his harpoon.
The Esquimaux are excellent deerstalkers, and are much
assisted by the skill with which they can imitate the cry of
the reindeer. Fish are caught sometimes with the hook
and line, sometimes by means of small nets 1141611 they come
to the shore in shoals to spawn, or finally with the spear.
The nets are made of “ small hoops or rings of 'whalebone,
firmly lashed together with rings of the same material.”*
The fishing-lines also are made of whalebone. t Salmon are
sometimes so abundant, that in Boothia Felix, Captain Ross
bought a ton weight for a single knife. For killing birds they
use an instrument in some respects like the “bolas” of South
America ; a number of stones or walrus teeth being fastened
to short pieces of string, and all the strings then tied together
at the other cnd.J The spears which are intended to be
thrown at birds or other small animals have a double fork at
the extremity, and three other barbed points near the middle.
These diverge in different directions, so that if the end pair
should miss, one of the central trio might strike the victim.
Aquatic birds are also caught in whalebone nooses; but “the
moulting season is the great bird harvest, as a few persons,
* Parry, l.c. p. 100.
f Egede, l.c. p. 107.
J Simpson, l.c. p. 156.
SLEDGES. BOATS.
405
wading into the shallow lakes, can soon tire out and catch
the birds by hand.”*
The so-called “Arctic Highlanders,” however, are said to
have no means of killing the reindeer, though it abounds in
their country ; nor have they the art of fishing, although,
curiously enough, they catch large numbers of birds in small
hand nets. Seals, bears, walrus, and birds constitute almost
the wholefc>f their diet, f Hone of the American or Greenland
Esquimaux have succeeded in taming the reindeer. Dogs
are their only domestic animals, and are sometimes used in
hunting, but principally to draw the sledges.
The sledges varv much both in materials and form : ac-
cording to Captain Lyon the best are made of the jawbones
of the whale, sawn to about two inches in thickness,
and from six inches to a foot in depth. These are the
runners, and are shod with a thin plank of the same material.
The sides are connected by pieces of bone, horn, or wood,
firmly lashed together. In Boothia Captain Boss saw sledges
in which the runners were made of salmon, packed into a
cylinder, rolled up in skins, and frozen together. In spring
the skins are made into bags, and the fish are eaten. J
Altogether these sledges are wonderfully constructed, when
it is considered with what simple tools they are made.
Their boats also are very ingeniously built, and are of two
kinds, the kajak or men’s boat, and the umiak or women’s
boat. The kajak is from eighteen to twenty feet long,
eighteen inches broad in the middle, tapering to both ends,
and scarcely a foot deep. It has no outriggers, and is there-
fore very difficult to sit. It is quite covered over at the top,
with the exception of a hole in the middle, into which the
* Lyon's Journal, p. 338.
f Kane, Arctic Explorations, vol, ii., pp. 208, 210. See also Richardson’s
Arctic Expedition, vol, ii., p. 25 ; Simpson’s Discoveries in North America, p. 347 ;
Ross, l.c. p. 585.
% l.c. Appendix, p. 24.
406
THE KAJAK AND UMIAK.
Esquimaux puts his legs. The boat therefore cannot fill with
water, and even if it upsets, they can right it again by a sudden
jerk of the oar, or rather paddle. Indeed, a skilful Esquimaux
will turn somersets in the water, in his boat, with great ease.
In spite of this they are frequently drowned, and indeed so
dangerous is the navigation that they generally go in pairs,
so as to assist one another on an emergency, for the skin
sides of the kajak are very thin, and if they come ’in contact
with any of the floating ice or drift-timber which abound in
the Greenland seas, are liable to be torn open, in which
case the unfortunate Esquimaux has little chance of saving
himself. The umiak is much larger and has a flat bottom.
It is made of slender laths, fastened together with whale-
bone, and covered over with sealskins. The Esquimaux
observed by Ross, at the northern end of Baffin’s Bay, were
entirely without canoes, and were “ ignorant, even tradi-
tionally, of the existence of a boat.”* It is, as he justly
observes, an extraordinary thing to find “ a maritime and a
fishing tribe unacquainted with any means of floating on the
water ; ” but we must remember that they had no wood, and
that there were only a few weeks in the year when the sea
was unfrozen. No wonder that Russ's ships were mistaken
for living creatures,! and that his boats excited the most
unbounded astonishment and admiration. Kane also J con-
firms the absence of boats, but he adds “ that the kayack teas
known to them traditionally.”
In the preparation of skins the Esquimaux use certain
stone instruments (figs. 76-78), which have frequently been
over-looked on account of their simplicity, but which yet
are particularly interesting because they are exactly similar
to certain ancient implements which are very common in
various parts of Europe, and have been already described
* Ross, Baffin’s Bay, p. 170. + l.c. p. 118.
J Kane, Arctic Explorations, vol. ii., pp. 13d, 210.
DRESS.
■ 407
in page 71. The magnificent collection of Mr. Christy con-
tains three of these skin- scrapers, obtained from the Esqui-
maux north of Behrings Straits. These are set in fossil
ivory. He has another which Avas found in a Greenland
grave, probably not older than the fifteenth century, and
belonging to the Stone period which supervened when the
intercourse with Norway Avas suspended. Some archaeologists
had considered that the “scrapers” were “probably knives,
the prolonged thick ends of which were intended for
handles, to be held betAveen the finger and thumb, or pos-
sibly for attachment to a short Avooden shaft.” * The true
nature and use of the ancient skin-scrapers has, however,
been entirely explained by these modern specimens with
Avhich they are absolutely identical. The method of pre-
paring skins is curious and ingenious, but very dis-
gusting.
The clothes of the Esquimaux are made from the skins of
reindeer, seals, and birds, seAvn together with sinews. For
needles they use bones either of birds or fishes ; yet with
these simple instruments they sew very strongly and well.
The oxiter dress of the men resembles a short great-coat, with
a hood that can be pulled over the head if necessary, and
which serves as a substitute for a hat or cap. Their under
garments or shirts are made of bird skins, Avith the feathers
inwards, or of skins with the hair inside; sometimes, liow-
eyer, they wear in addition another shirt made of seal’s
entrails. Their breeches, “ of which in winter they also
Avear two pair, and similarly disposed as to the fur,”f are
either of seal- skin or reindeer-skin, and their stockings of
skins from very young animals. The boots are of smooth
black dressed seal’s leather, and sometimes Avhen at sea they
wear a great overcoat of the same material. Their clothes
are generally very greasy and dirty, and swarm with lice.
* Sec Archteologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 415. f Parry, l.c. p. 495.
408
ORNAMENTS. MUSIC. GAMES.
The dress of the women does not differ much from that of
the men.
Their principal ornaments are “labrets,” or pieces of
polished stone or bone, which are worn in the lower lip or
cheeks. The hole is made in early infancy, and gradually
enlarged by a series of “guides.”* These “labrets,” how-
ever, are not worn by the Eastern tribes. According to
Richardson they are in use from Behrings Straits to the
Mackenzie River. f The other ornaments consist of strips
of variously colored fur, and fringes of pierced teeth,
generally those of the fox or wolf. Among the Esquimaux
visited by Capt. Lyon, the ornaments were all appropriated
by the men.J Some of the tribes are in the habit of tattoo-
ing themselves.
The men hunt and fish. They make the weapons and
implements, and prepare the woodwork of the boats. The
women § are the cooks, they prepare the skins, and make
the clothes. They also repair the houses, tents, and boats,
the men doing only carpenter’s work. Though they do
not appear to be very harshly treated, still the women
have certainly “ a hard and almost slavish life of it,”
although perhaps after all not more so than the men.
The Esquimaux are not altogether without music. They
have a kind of drum, and sing both alone and in chorus.
They are acquainted with several kinds of games, || both of
strength and skill, and are fond of dances, which are often
very indecent. One of tlicir games resembled our cat’s-
cradlc,^[ and Kane saw the children in Smith’s Sound play-
ing hockey on the ice. The Esquimaux have also a great
natural ability for drawing. In many cases they have made
* Vancouver’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 280; see also p. 408 ; Belcher, l.c. p. 141.
t Arctic Expedition, vol. i., p. 355. % Lyon’s Journal, p. 314.
$ Crantz, p. 164. || Egede, l.c. p. 162.
H Hall, l.c. vol. ii., p. 316.
RELIGION. BURIAL.
409
rude maps for our officers, which have turned out to be sub-
stantially correct.
According to Crantz, the Greenland Esquimaux “ have
neither a religion nor idolatrous worship, nor so much as any
ceremonies to be perceived tending towards it.”* This state-
ment has been confirmed by many other observers. f Their
burial ceremonies have, however, been supposed to indicate a
belief in the resurrection. They generally bend the body into
a sitting posture, bringing the knees up under the chin, and
then wrap the corpse in one of their best skins. For the grave
they choose some high place, and over the corpse they make
a heap of stones. Hear the body some of them place the
implements of the deceased, and even sometimes, if he was a
man, his kajak ; believing, as it has been said, that they will
be of use to him in the new world. Egede, however, ex-
pressly denies that it is done with any such idea. This view
is also confirmed by Hall, according to whom, the Esquimaux
have a superstitious objection to use, or even touch, anything
which has been in a house containing a dead body. § When
therefore any person is dying, they place by them everything
which can soothe and comfort their last moments, and then
leave the igloo, or house, which they close up, thus con-
verting it into a tomb. Crantz tells us that they “ lay a dog’s
head by the grave of a child, for the soul of a dog can find
its way everywhere, and will show the ignorant babe the
way to the land of souls,” and this is admitted by Egede.
Captain Cook saw burial mounds of earth or stone at
Oonalashka. One of the latter was near the village, and he
observed that every one who passed threw a stone on it. ||
Infants, if unfortunate enough to lose their mothers, are
* l.c. p. 197.
f Ross, Baffin’s Bay, vol. i., p. 175; Voyage of Discovery, p. 128; Tarry,
l.c. p. 551 ; Richardson’s Arctic Expedition, vol. ii., p. 44 ; Egede, l.c. p. 183.
+ l.c. p. 151. $ 7.c. vol. i , p. 201 ; vol. ii., p 221.
|| Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, vol. ii., p. 521.
410
BURIAL. CHARACTER.
always buried with them ; and sickly aged people are some-
times buried alive, as it is considered a kindness to spare
them the pain of a lingering death. The Esquimaux
observed by Captain Parry had a superstitious idea that any
weight pressing upon the corpse would give pain to the
deceased.* Such a belief would naturally give rise, in a more
favored country, to vaulted tumuli ; but in the extreme
north, the only result is that the dead bodies are but slightly
covered up, in consequence of which the foxes and dogs
frequently dig them up and eat them. This the natives regard
with the utmost indifference ; they leave the human bones
lying about near the huts, among those of animals which
have served for food ; another reason for doubting whether
their burial customs can be regarded as satisfactory evidence
of any very definite and general belief in a resurrection, or
whether the objects which they bury with their friends are
really supposed to be of actual use to them. On the whole,
the burial customs of the Esquimaux are curiously like those
of which we find evidence in the ancient tumuli of northern
and western Europe.
In character the Esquimaux are a quiet, peaceable people.
Those observed by Ross in Baffin’s Bay, “ could not be made
to understand what was meant by war, nor had they any
warlike weapons.”! Like other savages they resemble chil-
dren in a great many respects. They are such bad arithme-
ticians that the ‘‘enumeration of ten is a labour, and of fifteen
an impossibility with many of them.”! Dr. Rae, whose
partiality for the Esquimaux is wTcll known, assures us that
if a man is asked the number of his children, he is generally
much puzzled. After counting some time on his fingers,
he will probably consult his wife, and the two often differ,
even though they may not have more than four or five.
* l.c. pp. 395, 417, 550. f l.c, p. 186. J Parry, l.c. p. 251.
DIRT. CHARACTER.
411
They are excessively dirty. Considering the difficulty in
obtaining enough water even to drink during the greater
part of the year, we cannot, perhaps, wonder that they never
dream of washing. Their word for dirt, cberk, conveys no
idea of anything disagreeable or offensive ;* but in justice to
them wo must remember that the extreme cold, by preventing
putrefaction, removes one of our principal inducements to
cleanliness, and at the same time induces so great a scarcity
of water, as to render washing almost an impossibility. As
a general rule it is impossible to put any dependence on their
promises, not so much that they are intentionally deceitful,
as on account of the wavering and inconstant disposition
which they possess in common with so many other savages.
Among themselves a successful huntsman or fisherman is
always ready to share his seal or walrus with his less for-
tunate neighbours ; but he expects, as a matter of course, that
a sufficient return will be made to him, when an opportunity
occurs. They give away nothing themselves without ex-
pecting to receive as much again, and being unable to
imagine any other line of conduct, are naturally very defi-
cient in gratitude. Captain Ross, however, and Dr. Rae
consider that the Esquimaux encountered by them were
neither ungrateful nor particularly selfish. In other respects
also these appear to have been very favorable specimens of
the race. Though not cruel, the Esquimaux seem to be a some-
what heartless people. They do not, indeed, feel any actual
pleasure in the infliction of pain, but they will take little
trouble to remove or relieve suffering. The Esquimaux are
also great thieves, but, as Captain Parry truly observes,! wo
must “ make due allowance for the degree of temptation to
which they were daily exposed, amidst the boundless stores
of wealth which our ships appeared to them to furnish.”
* Kane, Arctic Explorations, vol. ii., p. 11G.
t l.e. p. 522.
412
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
According to Hall,* moreover, they are strictly honest among
themselves, kind, generous, and trustworthy. The Esqui-
maux women do not bear a high character. Both polygamy
and polyandry appear to occur. A strong or skilful man has
more than one wife, a beautiful or clever woman in some
cases more than one husband, f Again, the temporary loan
of a wife is considered a mark of peculiar friendship ; in
which, however, the advantage is not all on one side, as a
large family, far from being any incumbrance, is among the
Esquimaux a great advantage. +
The North American Indians.
The aboriginal, or at least the Precolumbian, inhabitants
of North America, fall naturally into three divisions. The
Esquimaux in the extreme north, the Indian tribes in the
centre, and the comparatively civilized Mexicans in the
south. The central tribes, which occupied by far the greater
extent of the continent, were again divided by the Pocky
Mountains into two great groups ; that on the western side
being in much the most abject condition. Though no doubt
there was and is an immense difference between different
tribes — and particularly between the semi-agricultural na-
tions of the west and the filthy barbarians of North Cali-
fornia— still Mr. Schoolcraft, to whom we are indebted for
an excellent work on the “ History, Condition, and Prospects
of the Indian Tribes,” § points out that “their manners and
customs, their opinions and mental habits, had, wherever thev
were enquired into, at the earliest dates, much in common.
Their modes of war and worship, hunting and amusements,
were very similar. In the sacrifice of prisoners taken in
war ; in the laws of retaliation ; in the sacred character
* l.c. vol. ii„ p. 312. f Ross, l.c. p. 273. + Ross, l.c. p. 515.
§ Published by authority of Cougress. Philadelphia, 1853.
DRESS. ORNAMENTS.
413
attached to public transactions solemnized by smoking the
pipe ; in the adoption of persons taken in war, in families ;
in the exhibition of dances on almost every occasion that can
enlist human sympathy ; in the meagre and inartificial style
of music ; in the totemic tie that hinds relationships together,
and in the system of symbols and figures cut and marked on
their graveposts, on trees, and sometimes on rocks, there is a
perfect identity of principles, arts and opinions. The mere
act of wandering and petty warfare kept them in a savage
state, though they had the element of civilization with them
in the Maize.” *
Many of the Indian chiefs had magnificent dresses of
skins and feathers. Some of the tribes, indeed, wore no
clothes ; hut this was rarely the case with the women, and
even the men had generally at least a loin cloth. The amount
of clothing, however, depended very much on the temperature.
In the plains and forests of the tropical and southern lati-
tudes, “ the Indian wears little or no clothing during a large
part of the year but it is very different on the mountains
and in the north, where the common dress was the breech
cloth and mocassins, with a buffalo-skin thrown over the
shoulders. The inhabitants of Vancouver’s Island had mats,
made either of dog’s-wool alone, of dog’s-wool and goose-
down together, or of threads obtained from cedar bark. They
often wore “ necklaces of shells, claws, or wampum ; feathers
on the head, and armlets, as well as ear- and nose-jewels.” f
Many of the Indian tribes are clean in their persons, and
frequently use both the sweat-house and cold bath ; others
are described as repulsive in countenance and filthy both in
person and habits.
The eastern tribes do not generally disfigure themselves
artificially, except indeed by the use of paint ; but it is very
* l.e. vol. ii., p. 47.
f Schoolcraft, vol. iii., p. 65.
414
TIIE PRACTICE OF HEAD-MOULDING.
different in tlie west. The Sachet Indians of De Fuca’s
Straits wear pieces of bone or wood passed through the
cartilage of the nose ; the Classet Indians cut their noses
when they capture a whale ; among the Bahines, who live
north of Columbia Fiver, the size of the underlip is the
standard of female beauty. * A hole is made in the underlip
of the infant, in which a small hone is inserted ; from time
to time the hone is replaced by a larger one, until at last a
piece of wood, three inches long and an inch and a half
wide, is inserted in the orifice, which makes the lip pro-
trude to a frightful extent. The process appears to be very
painful.
Owing to the almost universal custom of fastening babies
to a cradle-hoard, the American skulls are characterised by a
flattened occiput. This peculiarity does not now occur in
European heads, hut it is found in many ancient skulls from
various parts of the old continents, and indicates, as pointed
out by Yesalius, Gosse, and Wilson, that the cradle-hoard,
though long abandoned, was at one time used in Western
Europe, as it is even now among the Indians of North
America. The extraordinary practice of moulding the form
of the head was also common to several of the Indian tribes.
It prevailed in Mexico and Peru, in the Carib Islands, and
among the savage tribes of Oregon. Among the Natchez the
deformity is described by the historian of De Soto’s expedition
as consisting of an upward elongation of the cranium, until
it terminated in a point or edge. The Choctaws, though
enemies of the Natchez, “ improved ” their heads in the same
way. Their children were placed upon a hoard, and a hag
of sand was laid upon the forehead, “which, by continual
gentle comprcssurc, gives the forehead somewhat the form of
a brick from the temples upwards, and by these means they
* Kane’s Indians of North America, p. 242 ; Vancouver, l.c. vol. ii., pp. 2S0
408.
THE PRACTICE OF HEAD-MOULDING.
415
have high and lofty foreheads sloping off backwards.”* The
Waxsaws, Muscogees or Creehs, Catawbas, and Altacapas are
described as having had a similar custom. It was, however,
only the male infants which were treated in this manner.
Among the Nootka- Columbians the practice of flattening the
head was universal. The child was placed in a box or cradle
lined with moss. The occiput rested on a board at the upper
part of the box and another board was brought over the
forehead, and tied firmly down on the head of the infant.
The process continued until the child was able to walk, at
which time it is described as presenting a most hideous
appearance. The eyes “ stand a prodigious way asunder,”
the eyeballs project very much, and are directed upwards,
the head is very wide and has almost the form of a wedge.
The Newatees, a tribe residing on the north end of Van-
couver’s Island, forced the head into a conical shape, by
means of a cord of deer-skin padded with the inner bark of
the cedar tree. This cord, which is about as thick as a man’s
thumb, is wound round the infant’s head and gradually
forces it to take the shape of a tapering cone.f Among the
Peruvians the forehead was pressed downwards and back-
wards by tight bandages, of which there seem to have been
generally two, leaving a space between them, and thus pro-
ducing a well-marked ridge running transversely across the
skull. Thus while the forehead was prevented from rising,
and the sides of the head from expanding, the occiputal
region was allowed full freedom of growth, and the develop-
ment of the brain was forced to take an unnatural direction.
So great was the change produced, so extraordinary is the
shape of these abnormal skulls, that many ethnologists have
been disposed to regard them as belonging to a peculiar race.
This theory, however, has been clearly proved to be erroneous
* Schoolcraft, l.c. vol. ii., p. 324.
f Wilson on Physical Ethnology, Smithsonian Report, 1862, p. 288.
416
RELIGION. MARRIAGE.
and is now nniversall)r abandoned. It is very remarkable
that this unnatural process does not appear to have any
prejudicial effect on the mind of the sufferers.*
The Indian tribes generally believed in the existence of a
Great Spirit, and the immortality of the soul, but they seem
to have had scarcely any religious observance, still less any
edifices for sacred purposes. Burnet f never found any sem-
blance of worship among the Comanches. The Dacotahs
never pray to the Creator ; if they wish for fine weather
they pray to the weather itself. They believe that the
Great Spirit made all things except thunder and rice, but we
are not told the reason for these two curious exceptions.
The social position of the women seems to have been very
degraded among the aboriginal tribes of North America.
“ Their wives, or dogs, as some of the Indians term them,”
are indeed well treated as long as they do all the work, and
there is plenty to eat ; but throughout the continent, as
indeed among all savages, the drudgery falls to their lot, and
the men do nothing but hunt and make war ; though in
justice to them we must remember that the former at least
of these two occupations was of the greatest possible im-
portance, and that upon it depended their principal means
of subsistence. Polygamy generally prevailed ; the hus-
band had absolute power over his wives, and the marriage
lasted only as long as he pleased. Among some of the
North Californian Indians it is not thought right to beat
the wives, but the men “ allow themselves the privilege of
shooting such as they are tired of.”* Among the Dogribs
and other northern tribes, the women are the property of the
strongest. Every one is considered to have both a legal and
* Beecher’s Voyage Round the "World, vol. i., p. 308 ; "Wilson, Smithsonian
Report, 1862, p. 287.
f Schoolcraft, vol. i., p. 237. See also Richardson’s Arctic Expedition, vol. ii.,
p.2L
| Col. M‘Kee in Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, vol. iii., p. 127.
CHARACTER.
417
moral right to take the wife of any man weaker than he is.
In fact, the men fight for the possession of the women, just
like stags and the males of other wild beasts.
“ Imperturbability,* in all situations, is one of the most
striking and general traits of the Indian character. To still
his muscles to resist the expression of all emotion, seems to
be the point of attainment ; and this is particularly observed
on public occasions. Neither fear nor joy are permitted to
break this trained equanimity.” Even among relations “it is
not customary to indulge in warm greetings. The pride and
stoicism of the hunter and warrior forbid it. The pride of
the wife, who has been made the creature of rough en-
durance, also forbids it.”
But perhaps the most remarkable evidence of this is the
fact that the Algonquin language, although one of the
richest, contained no word for “ to love,” and when Elliot
translated the Bible for them in 1661, he was obliged to
coin one. He introduced the word “ womon ” to supply the
want. Again, the Tinne language f contains no word to
express “dear” or “beloved.” It is only fair to add that
Kane found the Cree Indians swearing in French, having no
oaths in their own language. £ Mr. Schoolcraft records,
as an indication that they are in reality of affectionate
disposition, that he “once saw a Fox Indian on the banks
of the Mississippi, near whose wigwam I had, unnoticed to
him, wandered, take up his male infant in his arms, and
several times kiss it.Ӥ The special mention of this fact
conveys a different impression from that which was intended.
Nevertheless, among the better tribes many no doubt are
capable of feeling strong affection, and there are even cases
on record in which the father has redeemed his son from the
stake, and actually been burnt in his stead.
* Schoolcraft, vol. iii., p. 58. f Richardson’s Arctic Expedition, vol. ii., p. 24.
+ l.c. p. 339. § l.c. vol. iii., p. 64.
27
418
CRUELTY. INFANTICIDE.
Partly no doubt from the hatred produced by almost in-
cessant wars, partly perhaps encouraged by the stoical dis-
regard of pain which it was their pride to affect, the North
American Indians were very cruel to captives taken in
war. Scalping seems to have been an universal practice,
and it is even said that the Sioux sometimes ate the hearts
of their enemies, every one of the war party getting a
mouthful, if possible.
Infanticide was common in the north, but does not seem to
have prevailed among the southern tribes to any great ex-
tent ; and until the advent of Europeans they do not appear
to have had any fermented liquors. The Sioux, Assiniboines,
and other tribes on the Missouri are said to have habitually
abandoned those who from age or infirmities were unable to
follow the hunting camps. The same was frequently the
case among the northern tribes.
As a race the North Americans are rapidly disappearing.
Left to themselves they would perhaps have developed an
indigenous civilisation, but for ours they are unfit. Unable
to compete with Europeans as equals, and too proud to work
as inferiors, they have profited by intercourse with the supe-
rior race only where the paternal government of the Hudson’s
Bay Company has protected them both from the settlers and
from themselves, has encouraged hunting, put an end to war,
prevented the sale of spirits, and, in times of scarcity, pro-
vided food. Ere long the only remains of the Indian blood
will, perhaps, be found in the territories of the Hudson’s
Bay Company.
Copper is found native in the northern districts, and even
before the advent of the Europeans was used for hatchets,
bracelets, etc. Nevertheless, it was used rather as a stone
than as a metal ; that is to say, the Indians did not heat it and
run it into moulds, or work it when hot, but simply took
advantage of its malleability and hammered it into form,
IMPLEMENTS. WEAPONS.
419
without the assistance of heat. Metallic vessels were quite
unknown to the aborigines of North America.
The implements of the Shoshonees, or Snake Indians, are
described by Wyeth. Their possessions were confined to
“ the pot, bow and arrow, knives, graining tools, awls, root
digger, fish-spears, nets, a kind of boat or raft, the pipe,
mats for shelter, and implements to produce fire.”*
The pot was made of “long tough roots, wound in plies
around a centre, shortening the circumference of the outer
plies so as to form a vessel in the shape of an inverted bee-
hive.” They were so well made as to be quite watertight, and
though of course they could not be put on the fire, still they
were used for boiling, in the manner already described as
practised by other savages. The Dacotahs are said to have
sometimes boiled animals in their own skins, taking the skin
off whole, suspending it at the four corners, and making use
of boiling stones as usual. They had also stone vessels, but
these were rare, and probably used only as mortars.
Their bows arc very skilfully made of the horns of the
mountain sheep and elk, or sometimes of wood. “ The string
is of twisted sinew, and is used loose, and those using this
bow require a guard to protect the hand which holds it.”
The arrow is driven with such force that it will pass right
through the body of a horse or buffalo,! and in the account of
De Soto’s expedition, it is stated that on one occasion an
arrow went through the saddle and housings of a horse and
penetrated one-third of its length into the body. Although
on the whole far inferior to the rifle, still in hunting the bow
has the one great advantage of silence. Among several of the
tribes, arrow-making was a distinct profession. The arrow-
heads are of obsidian, about three-fourths of an inch long
* Schoolcraft, vol. i., p. 212. Catlin, l.c. vol. i., p. 31 ; vol. ii., p.
f Schoolcraft, l.c. vol. hi., pp. 35,46; 212; McKean and Hall’s Indian Tribes,
Kane’s North American Indians, p. 141 ; vol. ii., p. 4.
420
CANOES.
and half an inch wide, and quite thin. The base is expanded
and is inserted into the split end of the shaft, being kept in
its place by sinews. The shaft is about two feet and a half
long ; when intended for hunting it is expanded at the end,
so that when it is drawn out of the wound the arrow-head is
extracted also ; but the shafts of war-arrows taper to the end,
so that when they are drawn out the head remains behind.
The knives are rudely made of obsidian, and are sometimes
fastened in handles of wood or horn. The graining tools for
preparing skins are sometimes of bone, sometimes of obsidian.
Mr. Wyeth does not describe their form. Awls were made
of bone ; large thorns also being sometimes used for the
purpose. Root-diggers are either made of horns, or of
crooked sticks pointed and hardened by fire. “ The fish-
spear is a very simple and ingenious implement. The head
is of bone, to which a small strong line is attached near
the middle, connecting it with the shaft about two feet from
the point. “Near the forward end of this head there is a
small hole, which enters it ranging acutely towards the point
of the head ; it is quite shallow. In this hole the front end
of the shaft is placed.” The shaft is of light willow, and
about ten feet long. When the fish is struck the shaft is
withdrawn, and the string at once pulls the bone end into a
transverse position. The fish-nets are made of bark, which
gives a very strong line, and are of two kinds, the scoop and
the seine. They are, however, unknown among the northern
tribes west of the Mackenzie.* The boats of the Shoshonees
hardly deserve the name, and seem to be used only for cross-
ing rivers. They are about eight feet long, and made of reeds,
but there is no attempt to make them water-tight. Other
tribes, however, have much better canoes, made either of
bark, or of a log hollowed out. The pipes are large, and
the bowl is generally of fuller’s-earth, or of soapstone. The
* Richardson’s Arctic Expedition, rol. ii., p. 25.
FIRE. DWELLINGS.
421
mats are about four feet long, are made of rushes, and are
used either as beds, or in the construction of wigwams.
They obtain fire by rubbing a piece of wood in a hole.
The Chippeways and Natchez tribes are said to have had an
institution for keeping up a perpetual fire, certain persons
being set aside and devoted to this occupation.
The huts or wigwams are generally of two kinds, one for
summer, and the other for winter. The winter wigwam
of the Dacotahs is thus described by Schoolcraft : “To erect
one of them it is only necessary to cut a few saplings about
fifteen feet in length, place the large ends on the ground in
a circle, letting the tops meet, thus forming a cone. The
buffalo-skins, sewed together in the form of a cap, are then
thrown over them and fastened together with a few splints.
The fire is made on the ground in the centre of the wigwam,
and the smoke escapes through an aperture at the top.
These wigwams are warm and comfortable. The other
kind of hut is made of bark, usually that of the elm.”*
The huts of the Mandans,f Minatarees, etc., were circular in
form and from forty to sixty feet in diameter. The earth was
removed to a depth of about two feet. The framework was
of timber, covered with willow boughs, but leaving a space
in the middle to serve both as chimney and window. Over
the woodwork was placed a thick layer of earth, and at
the top of all some tough clay, which was impervious to
wrater, and in time became quite hard, as in fine weather the
tops of the huts were the common loimging place for the
whole tribe. Though these dwellings were sometimes kept
very clean and tidy, * this was not always the case. Speak-
ing of the Nootka Sound Indians, Captain Cook§ says : “The
nastiness and stench of their houses are, however, at least
* l.c. vol. ii., p. 191- + Catiin’s American Indians, vol.
f This tribe, one of the most into- i., p. 82.
resting, has been entirely swept away \ Third Voyage, vol. ii., p. 316.
by the small-pox.
400
I-vW
DWELLINGS. AGRICULTURE.
equal to the confusion. For, as they dry their fish within
doors, they also gut them there, which, with their hones and
fragments thrown down at meals, and the addition of other
sorts of filth, lie everywhere in heaps, and are, I believe,
never carried away till it becomes troublesome, from their
size, to walk over them. In a word, their houses are as
filthy as hog-sties : everything in and about them stinking
of fish, train-oil, and smoke.”
The Walla walla Indians* of Columbia dig a circular hole
in the ground about ten or twelve feet deep and from forty
to fifty feet in circumference, and cover it over with drift-
wood and mud. A hole is left on one side for a door, and a
notched pole serves as a ladder. Here twelve or fifteen
persons burrow through the winter, requiring very little fire,
as they generally eat their salmon raw, and the place is very
warm from the numbers collected together and the absence
of ventilation. In summer they use lodges made of rushes
or mats spread on poles. This tribe lives principally on
salmon, preferring it putrid.
South of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and west of the Rocky
Mountains almost all the tribes seem to have grown more or
less maize. In the Carolinas and Virginia the Indians raised
largo quantities, and “ all relied on it as one of their fixed
means of subsistence.”! The Delawares had extensive maize
fields at the time of the discovery of America. In 1527,
De Vaca saw it in small quantities in Florida, and De Soto,
twelve years later, found it abundant among the Muscogees,
Chactaws, Chickasaws, and Cherokees. On one occasion his
army marched through fields of it for a distance of two
leagues. It is known to have been cultivated by the Iroquois
in 1610, and in small quantities by “the hunter communities
* Kano’s North American Indians, + Schoolcraft, l.c. vol. i., p. 6. See
p. 2/2; United States’ Exploring Ex- also Richardson’s Arctic Expedition,
pedition, vol. iv., p. 452. vol, ii., p. 51.
FOOD.
423
oi the Ohio, the Wabagh, the Miami, and the Illinois,” as
well as by the natives along both banks of the Mississippi.
The evidences of ancient agriculture have been already
alluded to in the chapter on North American Archaeology ;
the maize appears to have been the only plant actually
under cultivation ; but some of the tribes depended for their
subsistence very much on roots, etc. Wild rice also grew
abundantly in the shallow lakes and streams of Michigan,
Winconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, as well as in the upper valleys
of the Mississippi and Missouri. It was gathered by the
women, and formed one of their principal articles of food.
They went into the rice-fields in canoes, and bending the
stalks in handsful over the sides of the canoe, beat out the
grain with paddles.
The North American Indians, however, have long depended
mainly on the animal kingdom for their subsistence. They
are essentially hunters and fishermen, the buffalo, the deer
and the salmon supplying them with their principal articles
of food. The buffaloes were sometimes driven into pounds,
sometimes shot on the open prairie with bows and arrows.
Fish were speared, caught in weirs, etc., or sometimes shot.
The Macaws and Clallums on the Pacific coast sometimes
even killed whales. For this purpose they used large barbed
harpoons of bone, with a string, and a strong seal-skin
bag filled with air. This apparatus was used in the same
manner as among the Esquimaux (ante, p. 403). Like all
carnivorous animals, the Indians alternate between seasons
of great plenty and extreme want. Generally game is
abundant, and Noka, one of their most celebrated hunters,
is said to have killed in one day sixteen elks, four buffaloes,
five deer, three bears, one porcupine, and one lynx. This
of course was a very exceptional case. Still there is gene-
rallv some season of the year when they kill more game than
is required for immediate consumption. In this case the
424
BURIAL.
surplus is dried and made into pemmican. In winter, how-
ever, they arc often very short of provisions. Back gives a
terrible picture of their sufferings in famine times ; * and
Wyeth tells us that the Shoslionees “nearly starve to death
annually, and in winter and spring are emaciated to the last
degree ; the trappers used to think they all eventually died
from starvation, as they became old and feeble.” t
As might naturally he expected, the mode of burial varies
much in different parts of North America. In Columbia
they are generally “ placed above ground, in their clothing,
and then sewed up in a skin or blanket ; and the personal
property of each deceased individual was placed near the
body : over all were laid a few boards, placed as a kind of
shed to protect them from the weather.” J Among these
tribes the corpse is doubled up. Near Point Orchard in the
same district, the bodies were placed in canoes, and deposited
among the branches of trees. The Mandans also, and indeed
most of the Prairie Indians, scaffolded their dead. Among
the Clear Lake Indians, the Carriers, etc., it was usual to burn
them, while in Florida they were interred in a sitting pos-
ture. Among other tribes, the bones of the dead were col-
lected every eight or ten years, and laid in one common
burial place.
They are not altogether deficient in art, being able to
make certain rude carvings, and to trace equally rude draw-
ings on their wigwams, robes, etc. ; but about portraits they
have some curious ideas. They think that an artist acquires
some mysterious power over any one whose likeness he may
have taken; and on one occasion, when annoyed by some
Indians, Mr. Kane got rid of them at once by threatening to
draw any one who remained. Not one ventured to do so.
* Arctic Land Expedition, p. 194 to
226. Sec also Richardson’s Arctic
Expedition, vol. ii., p. 96.
t Schoolcraft, vol. i., p. 216.
+ United States’ Exploring Expe-
dition, vol. iv., p. 389.
THE PARAGUAS.
425
If the likeness is good, so much the worse — it is, they fancy,
half alive, — at the expense of the sitter. So much life, they
argue, could only be put in the picture by taking it away
from the original. Again, they fancy that if the picture were
injured, by some mysterious connection the original would
suffer also. But perhaps the oddest notion of all is recorded
by Catlin. He excited great commotion among the Sioux by
drawing one of their great chiefs in profile. “Why was
half his face left out,” they asked ; “ Mahtocheega was never
ashamed to look a white man in the face.” Mahtocheega
himself does not seem to have taken any offence, but Shonka,
The Dog, took advantage of the idea to taunt him. “ The
Englishman knows,” he said, “that you are but half a man;
he has painted but one-half of your face, and knows that
the rest is good for nothing.” This view of the case led to
a fight, in which poor Mahtocheega was shot ; and as ill-
luck would have it, the bullet by which he was killed tore
away just that part of the face, which had been omitted in
the drawing. This was very unfortunate for Mr. Catlin,
who had great difficulty in making his escape, and lived
some months after in fear for his life ; nor was the matter
settled until both Shonka and his brother had been killed, in
revenge for the death of Mahtocheega.
The Paraguay Indians.
The Indians of Paraguay have been described by Don Felix
de Azara,* who lived a long time among them. He found
them divided into several different nations or tribes, with at
least forty distinct languages, and with different customs.
Some of them lived by fishing, but the greater number
depended for their subsistence on the wild horses and cattle,
and must therefore have had different habits before the dis-
* Voyages dans l’Amerique Meridionale, 1809.
426
WEAPONS. HUTS. HABITS.
covery of America by tlie Europeans. Their principal arms
were long spears, clubs, and bows and arrows. Some tribes,
however, as, for instance, those of the Pampas, do not use
bows and arrows, but prefer the bolas. In war the Indians
of Paraguay gave no quarter to men, but spared only the
women and children.
Their houses, if we can call them, so, were of the simplest
character ; they cut three or four boughs, stuck the two ends
into the ground, and threw over them a cow-skin. Their bed
consisted of another skin ; they had no chairs or tables, or
any kind of furniture. The men seldom wore any clothes ;
the dress of the women consisted usually of a poncho,
although among some of the tribes, as the Nalicuegas, even
this was dispensed with. The art of washing seems to have
been entirely unknown, though Azara admits that in very
hot weather they used sometimes to bathe, rather however,
as it would appear, for coolness, than for cleanliness. It is
unnecessary therefore to say that they were excessively filthy,
and troubled much with lice ; if, indeed, they can be said to
have been troubled by that which supplied them with one of
their greatest enjoyments ; for though many of the tribes had
no dances, no games, no music, they all took a pleasure in
picking out and eating the vermin which swarmed on their
skin and in their hair and clothes.
They had no domestic animals, and no idea of agriculture.
Their doctors had but one remedy, which they applied in all
cases, and which had at least the great merit of being harm-
less— since it consisted “ a sucer avec beaucoup de force l’es-
tomac du patient, pour en tirer le mal.”*
Many of the tribes painted their bodies in various ways,
and it was usual to pierce the under lip and insert a piece
of wood, about four or five inches long, which they never
removed.
* Azara, l.c. p. 25.
RELIGION. INFANTICIDE.
427
They had no established form of government, nor any
ideas of religion. Azara makes this latter statement gene-
rally for all the Indians, and repeats it particularly for the
following tribes — namely, the Charruas, Minuanas, Aucas,
Guaranys, Guayanas, Yalicuegas, Guasarapos, Guatos, Nina-
quiguilas, Guanas, Lenguas, Aguilots, Mocobys, Abissons,
and Paraguas.
Azara describes the language of the Guaranys as being the
most copious, and yet it was in many respects very deficient ;
for instance, they could only count up to four, and had no
words for the higher numbers, not even for five or six. It
is quite unnecessary to say that the marriage tie was little
regarded among them ; they married when they liked, and
separated when they pleased.
Infanticide was, in several of the tribes, the rule rather
than the exception ; the women brought up but one child
each, and as they spared only the one which they thought
likely to be the last, it often happened that they were left
without any at all.
Patagonians.
The inhabitants of the southern parts of South America,
although they are divided into numerous different tribes,
may be considered as falling into two great groups : the
Patagonians, or Horse Indians, on the east, who have horses
but no canoes ; and the Chonos and Fuegians, or Canoe
Indians, who have canoes, but no horses, and who inhabit
the tempestuous islands on the south and west.
The Yacana-kunny who inhabit the north-eastern part of
Tierra del Fuego are, properly speaking, not Fuegians, but
Patagonians, and resemble them in color, stature, and
clothing, except the peculiar boots. They live now pretty
much as the mainlanders probably did before the introduc-
tion of horses, and feed principally on guanacoes, ostriches,
428
PATAGONIANS.
birds and seals, which they kill with dogs, bows and arrows,
bolas, slings, lances and clubs.* The habits of the Pata-
gonians must have been much altered by the introduction of
the horse, but we can only deal with them as they now are.
The Horse and Canoe Indians offer a great contrast in
point of size ; while the latter are short, ill-looking, and
badly proportioned, the former are considerably above the
average height, and are described by early travellers as
being truly gigantic. They were first visited in 1519 by
Magellan, who assures us that many of them were above
seven feet (French) in height. In 1525 they were seen by
Garcia de Loaisa, who mentions their great stature, but does
not seem to have measured them. Similar statements were
made by Cavendish, Knevett, Sibakl de Yeert, Van Noort,
Spilbergen, and Lemaire ; in fact out of the fifteen first
voyagers who passed through the Magellanic Straits, not
fewer than nine attest the fact of the gigantic size of the
Patagonians ; in which they are confirmed b}r the testimony
of several subsequent travellers, and especially of Fallcner,
who assures us that he saw many men who were over seven
feet in height.
It is difficult altogether to reject these statements, and as
they are certainly not applicable to the present race, it is
possible that there may have been a change of size owing to
the introduction and general use of the horse.
The huts, or “ toldos,” of the Patagonians, are “rectan-
gular in form, about ten or twelve feet long, ten deep, seven
feet high in front, and six feet in the rear. The frame of
the building is formed by poles stuck in the ground, having
forked tops to hold cross pieces, on which are laid poles for
rafters, to support the covering, which is made of skins of
animals sewn together, so as to be almost impervious to
rain or wind. The posts and rafters, which are not easily
* Fitzroy, l.c. vol. ii., p. 137.
HUTS. DRESS.
429
procured, are carried from place to place in all their
travelling excursions. Having reached their bivouac, and
marked out a place with due regard to shelter from the
wind, they dig holes with a piece of pointed hard wood,
to receive the posts : and all the frame and cover being ready
it takes but a short time to erect a dwelling.” *
They have no pottery, and for carrying water the only
vessels the}' use are bladders. Their dress consists princi-
pally of skins, sewn together with ostrich sinews, and
often curiously painted on one side ; but according to
Falkner,t some of the tribes “make or weave fine man-
tles of woollen yarn, beautifully dyed with many colours.”
They have also a small triangular apron, two corners
of which are tied round the waist, while the third passes
between the legs and is fastened behind. When on
horseback they use a kind of poncho, or mantle, with a slit
in the middle, through which they put their head. For
boots they wear the “skin of the thighs and legs of mares
and colts;” they clean the skins, and then, after drying, soften
with grease, and so put them on without either shaping or
sewing. J They make brushes of grass, twigs, and rushes, and
use the jaw of a porpoise for a comb. § The women wear a
mantle, fastened across the breast by a wooden skewer, or
pin, and tied round the waist. They have also a kind
of apron which reaches down to their knees, but which only
covers them in front. Their boots are made in the same way
as those of the men. Like other savages, they are fond of
beads, feathers, and other ornaments. They also paint them-
selves with red, black, and white, which however to European
eyes is anything but an improvement. Their defensive
* Fitzroy, l.c. vol. i., p. 93. and it was on account of these shoes
f Falkner’s Patagonia, p. 128. that Magellan called them “Patago-
+ When first visited they used the nians.”
skin of the guanaco for this purpose, § Fitzroy, vol. i., p. 75.
430
WEAPONS. FOOD.
armour consists of a liclmct and shield, both made of thick
hide, and strong enough to resist either arrows or lances.
Their hows are small, and the arrows, which are pointed
with stone or hone, are said to be sometimes poisoned. They
have also clubs and long cane lances,- most of which are now
tipped with iron. But the weapons which are most charac-
teristic of the Patagonians, and which are indeed almost
peculiar to them, are the bolas,* of which there are two or
three sorts. That used in war is a single rounded stone or
ball of hardened clay, weighing about a pound, and fastened
to a short rope of sinew or skin. This they sometimes throw
at their adversary, rope and all, but generally they prefer to
strike at his head with it. For hunting they use two similar
stones, fastened together by a rope, which is generally three
or four yards long. One of the stones they take in their
hand, and then whirling the other round their head, throw
both at the object they wish to entangle. Sometimes several
balls are used, but two appears to be the usual number.
They do not try to strike their victim with the balls them-
selves, but with the rope, “ and then of course the balls swing
round in different directions and the thongs become so ‘ laid
up/ or twisted, that struggling only makes the captive more
secure.” f It is said that a man on horseback can use the
“bolas” effectually at a distance of eighty yards. J They
also use the lasso.
On the coast their food consists principally of fish, which
they kill either by diving or striking them with their darts.
Guanacocs and ostriches they catch with the bolas, and they
also eat mare’s-flesh, as well as various sorts of small game,
and at least two kinds of wild roots. They have no fer-
mented liquor, and the only prepared drink which they use
is a decoction of chalas, and the juice of berberries mixed
with water.
* Falknrir, l.c. p. 130. f Fitzroy, l.c. vol.ii,, p. 148. J Darwin’s Journal, p. 129.
BURIAL. RELIGION.
431
The death of a native is attended with peculiar ceremonies.
The flesh having been as much as possible stripped from the
hones, they are hung “ on high, upon canes or twigs woven
together, to dry and whiten with the sun and rain.” One of
the most distinguished women is chosen to perform the dis-
gusting office of making the skeleton, and during the process
“the Indians, covered with long mantles of skins, and their
faces blackened by soot, walk round the tent, with long
poles or lances in their hands, singing in a mournful tone of
voice and striking the ground, to frighten away the Yalichus
or evil beings The horses of the dead are killed that
he may have wherewithal to ride upon in the Alhue Mapu,
or Country of the Dead.’ ” In about a year the hones are
“packed together in a hide and placed upon one of the
deceased’s favorite horses, kept alive for that purpose,” and
in this manner the natives hear the relics, sometimes to a very
great distance, until they arrive at the proper burial place,
where the ancestors of the dead man are tying. The hones
are arranged in their proper positions, and fastened by
string. The skeleton is then placed, with others, in a square
pit, clothed in the best robes, and adorned with beads, fea-
thers, etc. The arms of the deceased are buried with him,
and round the grave are ranged several dead horses, raised
on their feet, and supported with sticks.* Sometimes a
cairn of stones is raised over the grave. f
Falkner regarded the Patagonians as Polytheists, but
we do not know much about their religion. According
to the missionaries, neither the Patagonians nor the Arau-
canians had any ideas of prayer, or “ any vestige of religious
worship.” X
* Falkner’s Patagonia, pp. 118, 119. + Fitzroy, vol. ii., p. 158.
% The Voice of Pity, vol. ii., pp. 37, 95.
432
FUEGIANS.
The Fuegians.
The inhabitant s of Tierra del Fuego are even more de-
graded than those of the main land : in fact, they have been
regarded by many travellers as being the lowest of mankind.*
Adolpli Decker, who visited Polynesia and Australasia under
Jaques le Hermite in 1624, describes them as “ rather beasts
than men ; for they tear human bodies to pieces, and eat the
flesh, raw and bloody as it is. There is not the least spark
of religion or policy to be observed among them : on the
contrary, they are in every respect brutal” — of which he
proceeds to give evidence so convincing, that I refrain
from quoting it.f “ The men go altogether naked, and the
women have only a bit of skin about their middles ;
Their huts are made of trees, in the shape of tents, with a
hole at the top to let out the smoke. Within they arc sunk
two or three feet under the earth ; and the mould is thrown
upon the outside. Their fishing-tackle is very curious, and
their stone hooks very nearly the same shape as ours. They
are differently armed, some having bows, and arrows headed
with stone ; others have long javelins, pointed with bone ;
some again have great wooden clubs ; and some have slings,
with stone-knives, which are very sharp.” Their arrows are
of hard wood, straight and well polished. They arc about
two feet long, and are tipped with a piece of agate, obsidian,
or glass ; the head not being fixed to the shaft, remains in
the wound, even when the arrow is drawn out. The bows
are from three to four feet long, and quite plain. The string
is made of twisted sinews.
Forster £ found them “remarkably stupid, being incapable
of understanding any of our signs, which, however, were
* Byron’s Voyage Round the 'World, p. 80 ; Wallis’s Voyage Round the
World, p. 392; Cook’s Voyage to the South Pole, vol. ii., p. 187; Darwin’s
Journal, p. 235. f Callander’s Voyages, vol. ii., p. 307. + l.c. p. 251.
APPEARANCE.
433
very intelligible to the nations of the South Sea.” "Wallis,
in his “Voyage Round the World,”* describes them as
follows : “ They were covered with seal-skins, which stunk
abominably, and some of them were eating the rotten flesh
and blubber raw, with a keen appetite and great seeming
satisfaction.” And again he says: “Some of our people,
who were fishing with a hook and line, gave one of them a
fish, somewhat bigger than a herring, alive, just as it came
out of the water. The Indian took it hastily, as a dog would
take a bone, and instantly killed it, by giving it a bite near
the gills : he then proceeded to eat it, beginning with the
head, and going on to the tail, without rejecting either the
bones, fins, scales, or entrails.”f Their cookery is, if possible,
still more disgusting. Fitzroy tells us that it was “too
offensive” for description; and the account given by Byron £
entirely confirms this statement.
The men, says Fitzroy, § “are low in stature, ill-looking,
and badly proportioned. Their colour is that of very old
mahogany — or rather between dark copper and bronze. The
trunk of the body is large, in proportion to their cramped
and rather crooked limbs. Their rough, coarse and extremely
dirty black hair half hides, yet heightens, a villainous expres-
sion of the worst description of savage features. The hair of
the women is longer, less coarse, and certainly cleaner than
that of the men. It is combed with the jaw of a porpoise,
but neither plaited nor tied ; and none is cut away, excepting
from over their eyes. They are short, with bodies largely
out of proportion to their height ; their features, especially
those of the old, are scarcely less disagreeable than the re-
pulsive ones of the men. About four feet and some inches is
the stature of these she-Fucgians — by courtesy called women-
* Hawkcsworth’s Voyages, l.c. p. 403. f l.c. p. 403.
X Byron’s Loss of the Wager, p. 132.
§ Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, vol. ii., p. 137.
28
434
FOOD AND HABITS.
They never walk upright ; a stooping posture, and awkward
movement is their natural gait. They may be fit mates for
such uncouth men, but to civilized people their appearance is
disgusting
The smoke of wood fires, confined in small wigwams, hurts
their eyes so much, that they are red and watery : the effects
of their oiling or greasing themselves, and then rubbing
ochre, clay, or charcoal over their bodies ; of their often
feeding upon the most offensive substances, sometimes in a
state of putridity ; and of other vile habits, may readily be
imagined.”* Their incisors are worn flat, f like those of
the Esquimaux and of many ancient races.
“ The men procure food of the larger kind, such as seal,
otter, porpoises, etc. ; they break or cut wood and bark for
fuel, as well as for building the wigwams and canoes. They
go out at night to get birds ; they train the dogs, and of
course undertake all hunting or warlike excursions. The
women nurse their children, attend the fire (feeding it with
dead wood, rather than greefi, on account of the smoke),
make baskets and water-1 >u fishing-lines and necklaces,
go out to catch small fish in tiicir canoes, gather shell-fish,
dive for sea-eggs, take care of their canoes, upon ordinary
occasions paddle their masters about while they sit idle, and
do any other drudgery.” +
“ Swimming is a favorite amusement of the Fuegians
during summer ; but the unfortunate women are obliged to
go out into rather deep water, and dive for sea-eggs in the
depth of winter as often as in summer. Men, women, and
children are excellent swimmers, but they all swim like
dogs.”
“When there is time, the natives roast their shell-fish,
and half- roast any other food that is of a solid nature ; but
y
t Fitzroy, Appendix, p. 144.
+ Fitzroy, l.c. p. 185.
* l.c. p. 139.
FOOD AND HABITS.
435
when in haste, they eat fish, as well as meat, in a raw state.
Both seal and porpoises are speared
by them from their canoes. When struck, the fish usually
run into the kelp, with the spear floating on the water, being
attached by a short line to a moveable barb : and then the
men follow with their canoe, seize the spear and tow by it
till the fish is dead. To them, the taking of a seal or a
porpoise is a matter of as much consequence as the capture
of a whale is to our countrymen. On moonlight nights,
birds are caught when roosting, not only by the men but by
their dogs, which are sent out to seize them while asleep upon
the rocks or beach : and so well are these dogs trained that
they bring all they catch safely to their masters, without
making any noise, and then return for another mouthful.
Birds are also frequently killed with arrows or by stones
slung at them with unerring aim. Eggs are largely sought
for by the natives ; indeed, I may say that they eat anything
and everything that is eatable, without being particular as to
its state of freshness, or as to its having been near the fire.” *
According to Byron the dogs of the Chonos Indians assist
in killing fish as well as birds. They are, he says, “ cur- like
looking animals, but very sagacious, and easily trained to
this business The net is held by two Indians, who
get into the water ; then the dogs, taking a large compass,
dive after the fish, and drive them into the net ; but it is
only in particular places that the fish arc taken in this
manner.” He adds, that the dogs “enjoy it much, and
express their eagerness by barking every time they raise
their heads above the water to breathe.” t
“ In the winter, when snow lies deep, the Tekeenica
people assemble to hunt the guanaco, which then comes
* Fitzroy, l.c. p. 184.
f Byron’s Loss of the Wager. In Kerr’s Voyages and Travels, vol. xvii.,
pp. 339, 368, 463.
446
FOOD AND HABITS.
Fig. 156.
down from tlie high lands to seek for pasture near the sea.
The long legs of the animal stick deeply into the snow and
soft boggy ground, disabling him from escape,
while the Fuegians and their dogs hem him in
on every side and quickly make him their prey.
At other times of the
year they sometimes get them by lying in wait, and
shooting them with arrows, or by getting into a
tree near their track, and spearing them as they
pass beneath the branches. An arrow was shown to
Low, which was marked with blood two-thirds of its
length in wounding a guanaco, afterwards caught by
dogs. Low held out his jacket, making signs that
the arrow would not penetrate it ; upon which the
native pointed to his eye.”* Fig. 15G represents
the head of a F uegian harpoon, which closely resem-
bles the ancient Danish specimen figured in p. 80.
“ Of vegetable food they have very little : a few
berries, cranberries, and those which grow on the
arbutus, and a kind of fungus which is found on the
beech, being the only sorts used. The wretched
Fuegians often suffer greatly from famine. On one
occasion when the Chonos were in great distress on
this account, a small party went away, and the
natives said that in four sleeps they would return
with food. On the fifth day they came back almost
dead with fatigue, and “each man having two or
three great pieces of whale -blubber, shaped like a
poncho with a hole in the middle, on his shoulders.
The blubber was half putrid, and looked as if it had
been buried underground.” Notwithstanding this,
it was cut into slices, broiled, and eaten. On another
occasion masses of blubber were found in sand, doubtless
* Fitzroy, l.c. p. 187.
Bone
Harpoon.
CANNIBALISM. ABSENCE OF RELIGION.
437
laid in store for a season of want. Their principal food,
however, consists of limpets, mussels, and other shell-fish.
Admiral Fitzroy entertains no doubt that the Fuegians
arc cannibals. “Almost* always at war with adjoining-
tribes, they seldom meet but a hostile encounter is the re-
sult ; and then those who are vanquished and taken, if not
already dead, are killed and eaten by the conquerors. The
arms and breast are eaten by the women ; the men eat the
legs, and the trunk is thrown into the sea.” Again, in
severe winters, when they can obtain no other food, they
take “the oldest woman of their party, hold her head over a
thick smoke, made by burning green wood, and pinching her
throat, choke her. They then devour every particle of the
flesh, not excepting the trunk, as in the former case.” When
asked why they did not rather kill their dogs, they said,
“ Dog catch iappo,” i.e. otters.
Like Decker, Admiral Fitzroy “never witnessed or heard
of any act of a decidedly religious nature.” t Still some of
the natives suppose that there is “ a great black man” hi the
woods who knows everything, “who cannot be escaped, and
who influences the weather according to men’s conduct.”
When a person dies, they carry the body far into the
woods, X “ place it upon some broken boughs, or pieces of
solid wood, and then pile a great quantity of branches over
the corpse.”
They make canoes of large pieces of bark sewn together.
In the bottom they make a fireplace of clay, for they always
keep fires alight, though with the help of iron pyrites they
soon obtain sparks if any accident happens. The Chonos
Indians, who in most respects resemble the Fuegians, have
much better canoes. These are formed of planks, which are
* l.c. p. 183.
f See also Weddell, Voyage to Soutli role, p. 179 ; The Voice of Pity, vol, vi.,
p. 92, etc.
+ l.c. p. 181.
438
IGNORANCE OF POTTERY. DRESS.
generally five in number, two on each side and one at the
bottom. Along the edges of each are small holes, about an
inch apart. The planks are sewn together with woodbine,
the holes being filled with a kind of bark beaten up until it
resembles oakum. Byron truly observes that in the absence
of metal, “the labour must be great of hacking a single
plank out of a large tree with shells and flints, even though
with the lieli) of fire.”
The Fuegians have no pottery, but, like the North Ameri-
can Indians, use vessels made of birch, or rather of beech-
bark. On the east coast many of the natives possess guan-
aco-skins, and on the west some of them wear seal-skins.
“Amongst the central tribes the men generally possess an
otter-skin, or some small scrap about as large as a pocket-
handkerchief, which is bar el}' sufficient to cover their backs
as low down as their loins. It is laced across the breast by
strings, and according as the wind blows, it is shifted from
side to side.”* Many however, even of the women, go
absolutely without clothes. Yet, as Captain Cook quaintly
expresses it, “although they are content to be naked, they
are very ambitious to be fine for which purpose they adorn
themselves with streaks of red, black, and white, and the
men as well as the women wear bracelets and anklets of
shell and bone. Dr. Hooker informs us that at the extreme
south of Tierra del Fuego, and in mid-winter,, he has often
seen the men lying asleep in their wigwams, without a scrap
of clothing, and the women standing naked, and some with
children at their breasts, in the water up to their middles
gathering limpets and other shellfish, while the snow fell
thickly on them and on their equally naked babies. In fact,
fire does not appear to be a necessary with them, nor do they
use it to warm the air of their huts as wc do, though some-
times as a luxury they take advantage of it to toast their
* Darwin’s Researches in Geology and Natural History, p. 234.
FIRE.
439
hands or feet. Doubtless, however, if deprived of this source
of warmth they would die of starvation rather oftener than
is now the case. If not the lowest, the Fuegians certainly
appear to he among the most miserable specimens of the
human race, and the habits of this people are of especial
interest from their probable similarity to those of the ancient
Danish shell-moiuid builders, who, however, were in some
respects rather more advanced, being acquainted with the art
of making pottery.
440
CHAPTER XIII.
modern savages — concluded.
IN reading1 almost any account of savages, it is impossible
not to admire the skill with which they use their rude
weapons and implements. The North American Indian will
send an arrow right through a horse, or even a buffalo. The
African savage will kill the elephant, and the Chinook fears
not to attack even the whale. Captain Grey tells us that he
has often seen the Australians kill a pigeon with a spear, at
a distance of thirty paces.* Speaking of the same people,
Mr. Stanbridgc asserts that “ it is a favourite feat on the
Murray to dive into the river, spear in hand, and come up
with a fish upon it.” f Woodes Rogers says that the Cali-
fornian Indians used to dive and strike the fish under water
with wooden spears, + and Falkner tells us that some of the
Patagonian tribes live chiefly on fish, “which they catch
either by diving, or striking them with their darts.” § Wallace,
again, says the same of the Brazilian Indians. || The South
Sea Islanders arc particularly active in the water. They dive
after fish which “take refuge under the coral rock; thither
the diver pursues him, and brings him up with a finger in
each eye.”^[ They are even more than a match for the
* Grey, l.c. vol. ii., p. 285.
t On the Aborigines of Victoria. Ethn. Trans., New Ser., vol. i., p. 293.
+ Callander’s Voyages, vol. iii., p. 331. § Patagonia, p. 111.
|| Travels on the Amazon, p. 488. H Wilson, l.c. p. 385.
THE SKILFULNESS OF SAVAGES.
441
shark, which they attack fearlessly with a knife. If they
are unarmed “ they all surround him and force him ashore,
if they can but once get him into the surf;” but even if he
escapes they continue their bathing without the least fear. *
Ellis more cautiously says only that “ when armed they have
sometimes been known to attack a shark in the water.” f
The Andaman Islanders also are said to dive and catch fish
under water ; £ and Rutherford makes a similar statement as
regards the Hew Zealanders. The Esquimaux in his kayak
will actually turn somersets in the water. Skyring§ saw a
Fuegianwho “threw stones from each hand with astonishing-
force and precision. His first stone struck the master with
much force, broke a powder-horn which hung round his neck,
and nearly knocked him backwards.” In his description of
the Hottentots, Kolben says, || that their dexterity in throwing
the “ hassagaye and rackum-stick, strikes every witness of
it with the highest admiration If a Hottentot, in the
chase of a hare, deer, or wild goat, comes but within thirty
or forty yards of the creature, away flies the rackum-stick
and down falls the creature, generally pierced quite through
the bodv.” The death of Goliath is a well-known instance
«/
of skill in the use of the sling ; and we are told also that in
the tribe of Benjamin there was a corps of “ seven hundred
chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an
hair-breadth, and not miss.”^[ The Brazilian Indians kill
turtles with bows and arrows ; but if they shot direct at the
animal, the arrow would glance off the smooth hard shell,
therefore they shoot up into the air, so that the arrow falls
nearly vertically on the shell, which it is thus enabled to
penetrate.**
What an amount of practice must be required to obtain
* Wilson, l.c. p. 368. t Polynesian Researches, vol. i., p. 178.
+ Mouat, l.c. pp. 310, 333. § Fitzroy, l.c. vol. i., p. 398.
|| Kolben, l.c. vol. i., p. 243. H J udges xx. 16. ** Wallace’s Amazon, p. 466.
442
ARROWS. HARPOONS.
sucli skill as this ! IIow true also must tlie weapons be !
Indeed, it is very evident tbat each distinct type of flint
implement must have been designed for some distinct pur-
pose. Thus the different forms of arrowhead, of harpoon, or
of stone axe, cannot have been intended to be used in the
same manner. Among the North American Indians the
arrows used in hunting were so made that when the shaft
was drawn out of the wound the head came out also ; while
in the war arrows the shaft tapered to the end, so that even
when it was withdrawn the head of the arrow remained in
the wound. Again, the different forms of harpoons are
illustrated by the barbed and unbarbed lances of the Esqui-
maux ( ante , p. 403). Unfortunately, however, we have but
few details of this kind ; travellers have generally thought it
unnecessary to observe or record these apparently unimpor-
tant details ; and that our knowledge of flint implements is
most rudimentary, is well shown by the discussion between
Professors Steenstrup and TTorsaae, whether the so-called
“axes” of the shell-mounds were really axes, or whether
they were not rather used in fishing.
We may hope, however, that in future those who have the
opportunity of observing stone implements among modern
savages will give us more detailed information both as to
the exact manner in which they are used, and also about
the way in which they arc made ; that they will collect not
only the well-made weapons, but also, and even more care-
fully, the humble implements of every-day life.
Some archaeologists have argued that the shell-mound
builders of Denmark must have possessed more formidable
weapons than any that have yet been found, because it was
considered impossible that they could have killed large
game, as for instance the bull and seal, with the simple
weapons of bone and stone, which alone have hitherto been
discovered. Professor TV orsaae, in his well - known work
NEEDLES.
443
“On the Primaeval Antiquities of Denmark”* even goes so
far as to say : “Against birds and other small creatures these
stone arrows might prove effectual, hut against larger animals*
such as the aurochs, the elk, the reindeer, the stag, and the
wild boar, they were evidently insufficient ; particularly since
these animals often become furious as soon as they are struck.”
It is evident that Professor Worsaac is quite mistaken in this
supposition.
Mr. Galton informs me that the dexterity with which the
savages of Southern Africa butcher and cut up large beasts
with the poorest of knives is really extraordinary. The
Dammaras had usually nothing but bits of flattened iron
lashed to handles, or failing these, the edges of their flat
spears. Yet with these miserable implements they would
cut up giraffes and rhinoceroses, on which, even with ex-
cellent knives of European manufacture, Mr. Galton had
much difficulty in making any impression. Other savage
tribes readily cut flesh with pieces of shell or of hard wood.
The neatness with which the Hottentots, Esquimaux, North
American Indians, etc., are able to sew is very remarkable,
although awls and sinews would in our hands be but poor
substitutes for needles and thread. As already mentioned in
p. 253, some cautious archaeologists hesitated to refer the rein-
deer caves of the Dordogne to the Stone age, on account of the
bone needles and the works of art which are found in them.
The eyes of the needles especially, they thought, could only
be made with metallic implements. Professor Lartet ingeni-
ously removed these doubts by making a similar needle for
himself with the help of flint ; but he might have referred to
the fact stated by Cook f in His first voyage, that the New
Zealanders succeeded in drilling a hole through a piece of
glass which he had given them, using for this purpose, as lie
siqrposed, a piece of jasper.
* Page 18.
f Yol. iii., p. 464.
444
AllT. STATUES.
Tlie Brazilians also use ornaments of imperfectly crystallised
quartz, from four to eight inches long and about an inch in
diameter. Hard as it is, they contrive to drill a hole at each
end, using for that purpose the pointed leaf-shoot of the large
wild plantain, with sand and water. The hole is generally
transverse, hut the ornaments of the chiefs are actually
pierced lengthways. This, Mr. Wallace thinks, must be a
work of years.*
The works of art found in the Dordogne caves are no
better than those of the Esquimaux or the North American
Indians. In fact, the appreciation of art is to be regarded
rather as an ethnological characteristic than as an indication
of any particular stage in civilisation. We see, again, that
in many cases a certain knowledge of agriculture has pre-
ceded the use of metals ; and the fortifications of New Zea-
land, as well as the large morais of the South Sea Islands,
are arguments in favor of the theory which ascribes some of
our camps, our great tumuli, and other Druidical remains, to
the later part of the Stone age. The great moral of Oberea,
in Tahiti, has been already described (p. 385). Again, the
celebrated statues of Easter Island arc really colossal. One
of them, which has fallen down, measures twenty-seven feet
long, and others appear to be even larger. The houses
of the Ladrone Islanders, also, are very remarkable. The
larger ones were supported on strong pyramids of stone.
These were, according- to Freycinct,f in one piece, made of
chalk, sand, or large stones, imbedded in a kind of cement.
They were found in large numbers ; in one case they formed
a stone row four hundred yards long. They were first de-
scribed by Anson, who saw many which were thirteen feet
m height ; while one of those seen by Freycinet measured
as much as twenty feet. They were square at the base, and
rested on the ground. On each pillar was a hemisphere,
* Travels on the Amazon, p 27S. f Vol. ii,, p. 318.
DIFFERENCES IN TIIE STONE AGE.
445
witli tlie flat side upwards. The South Sea Islanders afford,
indeed, wonderful instances of what can he accomplished with
stone implements. Their houses are large and often well
built, and their canoes have excited the wonder of all who
have seen them.
Although, then, the use of stone as the principal material
of implements and weapons may be regarded as charac-
terising an early stage in the development of civilisation, still
it is evident that this stage is itself susceptible of much sub-
division. The Mincopie or the Australian, for instance, is
not to be compared for an instant with the semi-civilised
native of the Society Islands. So also in the ancient Stone
age of Europe, we find evidences of great difference. The
savage inhabitants of the South French caves had, according
to MM. Christy and Lartet, no domestic animals, and no know-
ledge of pottery or agriculture. The shell-mound builders
of Denmark had the dog ; the Swiss Lake- dwellers also pos-
sessed this animal, together with the ox, sheep, and pig,
perhaps even the horse ; they had a certain knowledge of
agriculture, and were acquainted with the art of weaving.
Thus, then, even when we have satisfied ourselves that any
given remains belong to the Stone age, we are still but on
the threshold of our enquiry.
Travellers and naturalists have varied a good deal in
opinion as to the race of savages which is entitled to the
unenviable reputation of being the lowest in the scale of
civilisation. Cook, Darwin, Fitzroy, and Wallis were de-
cidedly in favor, if I may so say, of the Fuegian; Burchell
maintained that the Bushmen are the lowest ; D’Urville voted
for the Australians and Tasmanians ; Dampicr thought the
Australians “ the miserablest people in the world ; ” Forster
said that the people of Mallicollo “ bordered the nearest upon
the tribe of monkeys ; ” Owen inclines to the Andamaners ;
others have supported the North American Itoot-diggers ;
446
DIFFERENT LINES
and one French, writer even insinuates that monkeys arc
more human than Laplanders.
The civilisation, moreover, of the Stone age differs not
only in degree, but also hi kind, varying according to the
climate, vegetation, food, etc ; from which it becomes evi-
dent— at least to all those who believe in the unity of the
human race — that the present habits of savage races are not
to he regarded as depending directly on those which charac-
terised the first men, but on the contrary as arising from
external conditions, influenced indeed to a certain extent by
national character, which however is after all but the result
of external conditions acting on previous generations.
If we take a few of the thing’s which are most generally
useful in savage life, and at the same time most easily ob-
tainable, such for instance as bows and arrows, slings, throw-
ing sticks, pottery, domestic animals, or a knowledge of
agriculture, we might perhaps have expected a priori that
the acquisition of them would have followed some regular
succession. That this, however, was not the case is shown
by the annexed table, which will, I think, be found inte-
resting. It gives some idea of the progress made by various
savage tribes, at the time when they were first visited by
Europeans.
Some of the differences exhibited in this table may indeed
be easily accounted for. The frozen soil and arctic climate
of the Esquimaux would not encourage, would not even
permit, any agriculture. So, again, the absence of hogs in
New Zealand, of dogs in the Friendly Isles, and of all
mammalia in Easter Island, is probably due to the fact that
the original colonists did not possess these animals, and that
their isolated position prevented them afterwards from ob-
taining any. Moreover, we must remember that as a general
rule, the lowest savage can only use one or two weapons.
He is limited to those which he can carry about with
OF CIVILISATION,
447
•SH3(IivVlSI
A/KIKaiUJ
Weak
p
...
Very
good
Yes
Yes
Shell
Yes
•8H3CIHVT31
ixaioos
Weak
Yes
Very
good
Yes
Bone
& shell
Large
For food
Many
•SKvaaoaaj
Good
Yes
Yes
Very
good
Yes
Yes
Bone
& shell
Yes
For food
Some
•snaaxvavaz
Very
good
Yes
Many
Bone
& shell
Large
For food
North American
Indians.
•isua
Good
Yes
Yes
Middling
Maize
Yes
Yes
For
hunting
TSO.VL
Good
Yes
Bad
Yes
Yes
For wool
& hunting
*
P
◄
3
00
•uxonxaox
p
P
For bird
catching
For
draught
•uioqxnog
Good
Yes
Yes
Yes
Good
Bone
Small
For
draught
CO
<
13
<
H
CO
p
<5
'1SOAV
Yes
Yes
Bad
Neat
Neat
For
hunting
-ni-iox
Yes
Yes
For
hunting
•snaxYityaKy
Good
Good
?
Good
•sxoxxaxxou
Weak
Yes
Iron
Yes
For
hunting
•naKHsng;
Weak
For
hunting
•sxvioanj
Weak
Yes
Bad
Stone
For
hunting
•saaaKvasj
Haxsvg[
^
:::::: w ::::: :
; \
Bows and Arrows
Slings
Throwing Sticks
Boomerangs
Bolas
Pottery
Canoes
Agriculture
Fortifications ...
Fish-hooks
Nets
Dogs
Hogs (Domestic)
448
DIFFERENCES IN WEAPONS.
him, and naturally prefers those which are of most general
utility.* We cannot, however, in this manner account for
all the facts. In Columbia, Australia, the Cape of Good
Hope, and elsewhere, agriculture was unknown before the
advent of Europeans. Easter Island, on the contrary,
contained large plantations of sweet potatoes, yams, plan-
tains, sugar-canes, etc. Yet the Chinooks of Columbia had
bows and arrows, fish-hooks, and nets ; the Australians
had throwing sticks, boomerangs, fish-hooks, and nets ; the
Hottentots had bows and arrows, nets, fish-hooks, pottery,
and at last even a certain knowledge of iron ; all of which
seem to have been unknown to the Easter Islanders, all of
which would have been very useful to them, and, excepting
the iron, might have been invented and used by them.
If the case of Easter Island stood alone, the absence of
bows and arrows might, perhaps, be plausibly accounted for
by the absence of game, the scarcity of birds, and the
isolation of the little island, which rendered war almost
impossible. But such an argument cannot be applied to
other cases which are indicated in the table. Let us com-
pare, for instance, the Atlantic tribes of North American
Indians, the Australians, Caffres, Bushmen, New Zealanders,
and Society Islanders. All these were constantly at war,
and the two first lived very much on the produce of the
chase. They at least had therefore similar wants. Yet
spears and perhaps clubs were the only weapons which they
had in common ; the North Americans had good bows and
arrows, the Society Islanders and Bushmen had bad ones —
in fact, those of the former were so weak as to be use-
less in war — the Australians, Caffres, and New Zealanders
had none. On the other hand, the Australians had the
throwing stick and the boomerang; the Society Islanders
* Weapons of war, depending very much on the caprice of chiefs, are probably
more liable to change than those used in hunting.
DIFFERENCES IN WEAPONS.
449
used slings; and the New Zealanders, besides very effec-
tive clubs, bad numerous and extensive fortifications. It
is certainly most remarkable that tribes so warlike, and in
many respects so advanced, as the New Zealanders and
Caffres, should have been ignorant of bows and arrows,
which were used by many very low races, such as the
Fuegians, the Chinooks, the Andamaners, and Bushmen;
particularly as it is impossible to doubt that the New
Zealanders at least would have found bows of great use,
and that any of their tribes, having invented them, would
have had an immense advantage in the “ struggle for exist-
ence.” Other similar contrasts will strike any one who
examines the table ; but perhaps it may be said that some of
these cases may be explained by the influence of more civi-
lised neighbours ; that the comparison above-made, for
instance, might be regarded as unfair, because the New
Zealanders were an isolated race, while the Chinooks might
have derived their knowledge of bows and arrows from the
eastern tribes, and these again might have acquired the art
of making pottery from the semi-civilised nations of the
south. No one can deny that this may. be true in some
instances, because we know that at the present day most
savages possess hatchets, knives, beads, etc., which they have
received from traders, and which they cannot yet manufac-
ture for themselves.
It is certainly possible that the Chinooks may have derived
their knowledge of the bow from their northern neighbours ;
but we can hardly suppose that they did so from the Bed
Indian tribes to the east, because in that case it is difficult to
understand why they should not also have learnt from these
the much simpler, and almost equally useful, art of making
pottery. Moreover there are some cases in which any such
idea is absolutely out of the question ; thus, the throwing
stick is used by the Esquimaux, the Australians, and some
29
450
THE ISOLATION OF SAVAGES.
Brazilian tribes, the bolas by the Esquimaux and the Pata-
gonians; the boomerang is peculiar to the Australians.*
The “sumpitan” or blow-pipe of the Malays occurs again
in the valley of the Amazons. Again, different races of
savages have but little peaceful intercourse with one
another. They are almost always at war. If their habits
are similar, they are deadly rivals, fighting for the best
hunting-grounds or fisheries ; if their wants are different,
they fight for slaves, for women, for ornaments ; or if they
do not care about any of these, for the mere love of fighting,
for scalps, heads, or some other recognised emblems of glory.
In this condition of society each tribe lives in a state either
of isolation from, or enmity with, its neighbours. Delenda
est Carthago is the universal motto, and savages can only
live in peace when they have a little world of their own.
Sometimes a broad sea, or a high range of mountains, at
others a wide “march” or neutral territory suppty the neces-
sary conditions, and keep them apart. They meet only to
fight, and are therefore not likely to learn much from one
another. Moreover, there are cases in which some tribes
have weapons which are quite unknown to their neighbours.
Thus, among the Brazilian tribes we find the bow and arrow,
the blow-pipe, the lasso, and the throwing stick. The first
is the most general, but the Barbados use only the blow-pipe,
the Moxos have abandoned the bow and arrow for the lasso,
and the Purnpurus are distinguished from all their neigh-
bours by using, not bows and arrows, but the “ palheta,” or
throwing stick. Again, the Caffres have not generally
adopted the bows and arrows of the Bushmen ; the Esqui-
maux have not acquired the art of making pottery from the
North American Indians, nor the southern Columbian tribes
from the northern Mexicans.
* The negroes of Niam Niam, however, have iron crescents resembling boom-
erangs, which are thrown in war.
INDEPENDENT INVENTIONS.
451
Many, again, of tlie ruder arts, as for instance the manu-
facture of pottery and of bows, are so useful, and at the same
time, however ingenious in idea, so simple in execution, as to
render it highly improbable that they would ever be lost,
when they had once been acquired. Yet we have seen that
the New Zealanders and Caffres had no bows, and that none’
of the Polynesians had any knowledge of pottery ; though
it is evident from their skill in other manufactures and their
general state of civilisation, that they would have found no
difficulty in the matter, if the manner had once occurred to
them. Again “bolas” are a most effectual weapon, and there
is certainly no difficulty in making them, yet the knowledge
of them appears to be confined to the Patagonians and the
Esquimaux. There can be no doubt that the art of pottery
has frequently been communicated by one race to another.
Nevertheless, there are cases, even among existing races,* in
which we seem to find indications of an independent dis-
cover}’ ; at any rate, in which the art is in a rudimentary stage.
On the whole, then, from a review of all these, and other
similar facts which might have been mentioned, it seems to
me most probable that many of the simpler weapons, imple-
ments, etc., have been invented independently by various
savage tribes, although there are no doubt also cases in which
they have been borrowed by one tribe from another.
The contrary opinion has been adopted by many writers on
account of the undeniable similarity existing between the
weapons used by savages in very different parts of the world.
But however paradoxical it may sound, though the imple-
ments and weapons of savages are remarkably similar, they
are at the same time curiously different. No doubt the
necessaries of life are simple and similar all over the world.
The materials also with which man has to deal arc very much
alike ; wood, bone, and to a certain extent stone, have every -
* See, for instance, p. 394.
452
DIFFERENCES IN HABITS.
where the same properties. The obsidian flakes of the
Aztecs resemble the flint flakes of our ancestors, not so much
because the ancient Briton resembled the Aztec, as because
the fracture of flint is like that of obsidian. So also the
pointed bones used as awls are necessarily similar all over the
world. Similarity exists, in fact, rather in the raw material
than in the manufactured article, and some even of the simplest
implements of stone are very different among- different races.
The adze-like hatchets of the South Sea Islanders arc unlike
those of the Australians or ancient Britons ; the latter again
differ very much from the type which is characteristic of the
drift or archaeolithic period.
A or are the habits and customs of savages in reality very
similar. Many, indeed, of those differences which must have
struck any one in reading the preceding part of the chapter,
follow evidently and directly from the external conditions in
which different races are placed. The habits of an Esqui-
maux and a Hottentot could not possibly be similar. But
lct us take some act which is common to many races, and is
susceptible of being accomplished in many ways. For in-
stance, most savages live in part on the flesh of birds ; how is
this obtained? Generally with bows and arrows; but while
the Australians catch birds with the hand, or kill them with
the simple spear or the boomerang, the Fuegians have both
the sling and the bow, while the Esquimaux use a complex
spear, or a projectile which consists of a number of walrus
teeth fastened together by short pieces of string, and thus
forming a kind of bolas. The northern tribes visited by
Kane used a different method. They caught large numbers
of birds — especially little auks — in small nets, resembling-
landing nets, with long ivory handles. Yet this very people
were entirely ignorant of fishing.*
Take, again, the use made of the dog. At first, probably,
* Kane. Arctic Explorations, vol. ii., pp. 203, 243.
DIFFERENT USES OF THE DOG.
453
the dog and the man hunted together ; the cunning of the
one supplemented the speed of the other, and they shared
the produce of their joint exertions. Gradually mind as-
serted its pre-eminence over matter, and the man became
master. Then the dog was employed in other ways, less
congenial to his nature. The Esquimaux forced him to draw
the sledge ; the Chinook kept him for the sake of Lis wool ;
the South Sea Islanders, having no game, bred the dog for
food ; the C onos Indians taught him to fish ; where tribes
became shepherds, their dogs became shepherds also ; finally,
it is recorded by Pliny that in ancient times troops of dogs
were trained to serve in war. Even the ox, though less
versatile than the dog, has been used for the first and the
two last of these purposes.
Again, in obtaining fire, two totally different methods are
followed; some savages, as for instance the Fuegians, using
percussion, while others, as the South Sea Islanders, rub one
piece of wood against another. Opinions are divided whether
we have any trustworthy record of a people without the
means of obtaining fire. It has been already mentioned
(p. 355) that, according to Mr. Dove, the Tasmanians,
though acquainted with fire, did not know how to obtain it.
In his history of the Ladrone Islands, Father Gobien asserts
that fire, “ an element of such universal use, was utterly un-
known to them, till Magellan, provoked by their repeated
thefts, burned one of their villages. When they saw their
wooden houses blazing, they first thought the fire a beast
which fed upon wood, and some of them, who came too near,
being burnt, the rest stood afar off, lest they should be de-
voured, or poisoned, by the violent breathings of this terrible
animal.” This fact is not mentioned in the original account
of Magellan’s V oyage. F reycinct believes that the assertion of
Father Gobien is entirely without foundation. The language,
he says, of the inhabitants contains words for fire, burning,
454
FIRE.
charcoal, oven, grilling, boiling, etc. ; and even before the ad-
vent of the Europeans, pottery* was well known. It is difficult,
however, to get over the distinct assertion made by Gobien,
which moreover derives some support from similar statements
made by other travellers. Thus Alvaro de Saavedra states
that the inhabitants of certain small islands in the Pacific
which he called “Los Jardines,” but which cannot now be
satisfactorily determined, stood in terror of fire because they
had never seen it.f Again, Wilkes tells us X that on the
island of Fakaafo, which he calls “Bowditch,” “there was
no sign of places for cooking, nor any appearance of fire.”
The natives also were very much alarmed when they saw
sparks struck from flint and steel. Here, at least, we might
have thought, was a case beyond question or suspicion ; the
presence of fire could hardly have escaped observation ; the
marks it leaves are very conspicuous. If we cannot depend
on such a statement as this, made by an officer in the United
States’ Navy, in the official report of an expedition sent out
especially for scientific purposes, we may well be disheartened,
and lose confidence in Ethnological investigations. Yet the
assertions of Wilkes are questioned, and with much appearance
of justice, by Mr. Tylor. § In the “ Ethnography of the United
States’ Exploring Expedition,” Hale gives a list of Fakaafo
words, in which we find afi for “ fire.” This is evidently the
same word as the New Zealand ahi ; but as it denotes light
and heat, as well as fire, we might suppose that it thus found
its way into the Fakaafo vocabulary. I should not, there-
fore, attribute to this argument quite so much force as does
Mr. Tylor. It is, however, evident that Captain Wilkes did
not perceive the importance of the observation, or he would
certainly have taken steps to determine the question ; and as
Ilale, in his special work on the Ethnology of the expedition,
* l.c. vol. ii., p. 166. f Hackluyt, Soc., 1862, p. 178.
+ United States’ Expl. Exped. vol. v„ p. 18. § Early History of Mankind, p. 230.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF BURIAL.
455
docs not say a word on tlie subject, it is clear lie liad no
idea that the inhabitants of Fakaafo exhibited such an in-
teresting phenomenon. The fact, if established, would be
most important ; but it cannot be said to be satisfactorily
proved that there is at present, or has been within historical
times, any race of men entirely ignorant of fire. It is at
least certain that as far back as the earliest Swiss lake-villages,
and Danish shell-mounds, the use of fire was well known in
Europe.
There is, again, scarcely any conceivable way in which the
dead could be disposed of, which has not been adopted in
some part of the world. Among many the corpse is simply
buried ; by others it is burned. Some of the North American
Indians expose their dead on scaffolds in the branches of trees.
Some tribes deposit them in sacred rivers, others in the sea.
Among the Sea Dyaks the dead chief is placed in his war
canoe with his favorite weapons and principal property, and
is thus turned adrift. Other tribes gave their dead to be
food for wild beasts ; and others preferred to eat them them-
selves. Some Brazilian tribes drink the dead.* “ The Ta-
rianas and Tucanos, and some other tribes, about a month
after the funeral, disinter the corpse, which is then much
decomposed, and put it in a great pan or oven, over the fire,
till all the volatile parts are driven off with a most horrible
odour, leaving only a black carbonaceous mass, which is
pounded into a fine powder, and mixed in several large
conches of caxiri : this is drunk by the assembled company”
under the full belief that the virtues of the deceased will thus
be transmitted to the drinkers. The Cobeus also drink the
ashes of the dead in the same manner.
Indeed, if there are two possible ways of doing a thing, we
may be sure that some tribes will prefer one, and some the
other. It seems natural to us that descent should go in the
* Wallace, Travels on the Amazon, p. 498.
4-jG
CURIOUS CUSTOMS.
mule line ; but there are very many tribes in which it is traced
from the mother, not the father. The husband or father
seems to us to be the natural head of the family ; in Tahiti
the reverse is the case, and the son enters at once into the
property and titles of his father, ivho then holds them only
as a guardian or trustee ; so that among this extraordinary
people, not the father, but the son, is in reality the head of
the family. Among the New Zealanders Mr. Brown assures
us that the youngest son succeeded to the property of the
father.* There are many races in which those holding cer-
tain relationships are forbidden to talk to one another, an
extraordinary superstition which, as we have seen (p. 364),
reaches its climax among the Feegeeans.
It seems natural to us that after childbirth, the woman
should keep her bed ; and that as far as possible the husband
should relieve her for a time from the labors and cares of
life. In this, at least, one might have thought that all
nations would be alike. Yet it is not so. Among the
Caribs the father, on the birth of a child, took to his
hammock, and placed himself in the hands of the doctor,
the mother meanwhile going about her work as usual. A
similar custom has been observed on the mainland of South
America ; among the Arawaks of Surinam ; in the Chinese
province of West Yunnan; it is mentioned by Strabo as
occurring in his time among the Iberians, and is found even
in the present day among the Basques, among whom we are
told that in some of the valleys, the “women rise immediately
after childbirth, and attend to the duties of the household,
while the husband goes to bed, taking the baby with him,
and thus receives the neighbours’ compliments.” The same
habit has been noticed also in the South of France ; accord-
ing to Diodorus Siculus it prevailed at his time in Corsica ;
and finally it “ is said still to exist in some cantons of Bearn,
* New Zealand and its Aborigines, p. 26.
DIFFERENCES IN PREVALENT SOUNDS.
457
whore it is called fairc la couvade.” A full account of this
most extraordinary habit will be found in Tylor’s Early
History of Mankind, on the authority of which I make the
above statements.*
Again, the love of life — the dread of death — are among
the strongest of our feelings. “Everything that a man hath,
he will give in exchange for his life.” But this is by no
means universally the case. According to Azara, the Indians
of Paraguay have a great indifference to death ; and we have
already seen that this is the case with the Eeegeeans.
Among the Chinese it is said that a man condemned to death,
if permitted to do so, may always secure a substitute on pay-
ment of a moderate sum of money.
Again, the sounds by which language is constituted differ
extremely in different parts of the world. The clicks of the
Hottentots are a striking illustration of this. The Indians of
Port au Francais in Columbia, according to M. de Lamanon,f
make no use of the consonants b, f, x, j, d, p, or v. The
Australians did not use the sound conveyed by our letter s. J
The Feegeeans do not use the letter c, the Soino-Somo dialect
has no k, that of Bakiraki and other parts no t. § The
Society Islanders exclude both s and c. || In representing
the New Zealand language the missionaries found 1 hem-
selves able to discard no less than thirteen letters, namely,
b, c, d,f, g,j, l, q, s, v, x, y, and z. If
Even the symbols by which the feelings are expressed arc
very different in different races. Kissing appears to us the
natural expression of affection ; yet it was entirely unknown
to the Tahitians/the New Zealanders,** the Papouans,ff and
the aborigines of Australia, nor was it in use among the
* l.c. p. 288. t Voyage (le la Perouse, vol. ii., p. 211.
+ Freycinet, vol. ii., p. 757 ; D’Urville, vol. i., p. 188, 199, 481.
§ Figi and the Figians, vol. i., p. v., 257. || Polynesian Researches, vol. i., p. 77.
If Brown. New Zealand and its Aborigines, p. 100.
** D’Urville, vol.ii., p. 561. ft Freycinet, vol. ii., p. 56.
458
DIFFERENT IDEAS OF VIRTUE.
Esquimaux ; * tlie Tongans and many other Polynesians
always sit down wrhen speaking to a superior ; the in-
habitants of Mallicollo testify “ admiration by hissing like a
goose ;”f at Vatavulu it is respectful to turn one’s hack on a
superior, especially in addressing him.:}: According to Frey-
cinet, tears were recognised in the Sandwich Islands as a
sign of happiness ; § and some of the Esquimaux pull noses
as a token of respect. || Spix and Martius assure us that
blushing was unknown among the Brazilian Indians ; and
that only after long intercourse with Europeans, does a
change of color become in them any indication of mental
emotion.
The ideas of virtue are also extremely dissimilar. Neither
faith, hope, nor charity, enter into the virtues of a savage.
The Sichuana language contains no expression for thanks ;
the Algonquin had no word for love ; the Tinne no word
for beloved ; mercy was with the North American Indians a
mistake, and peace an evil ; theft, says Catlin, they “ call
capturing ; ” humility is an idea which they could not com-
prehend. Chastity was not reckoned as a virtue by the
New Zealanders;** it was disapproved of, though for very
different reasons, by some of the Brazilian tribes, by the
inhabitants of the Ladrones, and by the Andamaners. On
the other hand, the Australians would have been shocked
at a man marrying a woman of his own family name ; the
Abipones thought it a sin for a man to pronounce his own
name ; the Tahitians thought it very wrong to eat in com-
pany, and were horrified at an English sailor, who carried
some food in a basket on his head. This prejudice was also
shared by the New Zealanders, ff while the Feegeeans, who
* Lyon’s Journal, p. 353. + Cook’s Second Voyage, vol. ii., p. 36.
+ Figi aid the Figians, vol. i., p. 154. § l.c. vol. ii., pp. 542, 589.
|| Ross. Baffin’s Bay, p. 118. IT Vol. i., p, 376.
** Brown. New Zealand and its Aborigines, p. 35.
ft D’Urville, vol. ii., p. 533.
DIFFERENT IDEAS OF VIRTUE.
459
were habitual cannibals, who regarded mercy as a weakness,
and cruelty as a virtue, fully believed that a woman who was
not tattooed in an orthodox manner during life, could not pos-
sibly hope for happiness after death. This curious idea is also
found among the Esquimaux. Hall tells us that they tattoo
“ from principle, the theory being that the lines thus made
will be regarded in the next world as a sign of goodness.”*
It seems to the Veddahs the most natural thing in the world
that a man should marry his younger sister, but marriage
with an elder one is as repugnant to them as to us. Among
the Friendly Islanders the chief priest was considered too
holy to be married ; but he had the right to take as many
concubines as he pleased ; and even the chiefs dared not
refuse their daughters to him. Among the natives of New
South Wales, though the women wore no clothes, it was
thought indecent for children to go naked, f
I cannot indeed but think that the differences observable in
savage tribes, are even more remarkable than the similarities.
In endeavouring to estimate the moral character of savages,
Ave must remember not only that their standard of right and
wrong was, and is, in many cases, very different from ours :
but also that, according to the statements of travellers, though
on this point I must confess that I feel much hesitation, some
of them can hardly be regarded as responsible beings, and
have not attained to any notions, however faulty and un-
defined, of moral rectitude.^ But Avhere such notions do
exist, they differ widely, as we have seen, from our own ;
and it would open up too large a question to enquire Avhether,
in all cases, our standard is the correct one. .
In considering the character of Avomen belonging to savage
or semi-savage races, we must remember that savages re-
garded the Avhite men as beings of a superior order to thern-
* Life Avitli the Esquimaux, vol. ii., p. 315. f D’Urville, vol. i. p. 471.
+ See, for instance, Burchell, vol. i., p. 461
460
DEIFICATION OF WHITE MEN BY SAVAGES.
selves. Tims M. Du Chaillu tells us, tliat some of the African
savages looked upon him as a superior being ; and the South
Sea Islanders worshipped Captain Cook as a deity. Even
when they had killed him, and cut him into small pieces,
the inhabitants of Owhyhee fully expected him to re-appear,
and frequently asked “ what he would do to them on his
return.”* However absurd and extravagant such a belief
may at first sight appear, it must be admitted that it is in
many respects very natural. Savages can only raise their
minds to the conception of a being a few degrees superior
to themselves, and Captain Cook was more powerful, wiser,
and we may add more virtuous, than most of their so-called
“ Deities.” Under these circumstances, although it must be
admitted that the chastity of the women is not, as a general
rule, much regarded among savages, we must not too severely
condemn them on this account. It is not surprising that
any connexion with white men is regarded rather as an
honor than as a disgrace : Europeans hold, in fact, almost the
same position in public estimation as did the amorous deities
of ancient mythology.
Again, with savages, as with children, time appears longer
than it does to us, and a temporary marriage as natural and
honorable as one that is permanent. Hospitality, again,
is frequently carried so far that it is thought wrong to with-
hold from a guest anything that might contribute to his
comfort, and he is accordingly provided with a temporary,
wife for the period of his visit. f Among the Esquimaux it
is considered a great mark of friendship for two men to
exchange wives for a day or two. It has been already men-
tioned that a Kandyan chief, described by Mr. Bayley, was
quite scandalised at the idea of having only one wife. It
* Cook’s Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. By Capt. King, F.R.S. Vol.iii., p. 69.
f See, for instance, Wilson’s Missionary Voyage, pp. 61, 141, 160, etc. ; Frey-
cinet, vol. ii., p. 119.
SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN.
461
was, lie said, “just like monkeys.” When Captain Cook was
in New Zealand, liis companions contracted many temporary
marriages with the Maori women ; these were arranged in a
formal and decent manner, and were regarded, by the New
Zealanders at any rate, as perfectly regular and innocent.*
llegnardt assures us that the Lapps preferred to marry a girl
that has had a child by a white man, thinking “ that because
a man, whom they believe to be possessed of a better taste
than themselves, has been anxious to give marks of his love
for a girl of their country, she must therefore be possessed of
some secret merit.” Even at the present day, Lady Duff
Gordon tells us, in her paper on the Capo, £ that “there
are no so-called ‘morals’ among the coloured people, and
how or why should there ? It is an honor to one of these
girls to have a child by a white man.” Taking all these
facts into consideration, the intercourse which has taken
place between Europeans and women of lower tribes must
not, I think, be too severely condemned, or rather the blame
ought to fall on us and not on them. But even among
savages themselves, we must admit that female virtue is, in
many cases, but slightly regarded ; as, indeed, is but natural
when women themselves are looked upon as little better than
domestic animals. Among many tribes, for instance the
South Sea Islanders and the Esquimaux, indecent dances are
not only common, but are countenanced by women of the
highest rank, to whom it does not appear to occur that there
is any harm or impropriety in them. According to Ulloa,§ the
Brazilians do not approve of chastity in an unmarried woman,
regarding it as a proof that she can have nothing attractive
about her. The inhabitants of the Ladrones, || and of the
Andaman Islands,^ come to the same conclusion ; in the
* Cook’s First Voyage, vol. iii., p. 4.50.
f Pinkerton. Journey to Lapland, vol. i., p. 166.
+ Vacation Tourists, 1863, p. 178. § Pinkerton, vol. xiv., p. 521.
|| Freycinet, vol. ii., p. 370. IT Trans. Etlin. Soc., New Ser., vol. ii., p. 35.
462
SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN.
latter case, however, for a different reason, regarding it as a
proof of selfishness and pride. Judged by our standards
these facts are very dreadful ; but we must remember that
they did not entail on savages the same fatal consequences as
with us ; and before we condemn them too severely, let us
remember our own literature and our own morality, even in
the last century.
The harsh, not to say cruel, treatment of women, which is
almost universal among savages, is one of the deepest stains
upon their character. They regard the weaker sex as beings
of an inferior order, as mere domestic drudges. Hard work
and hard fare fall to their lot. Nor are their labors and
sufferings sweetened by any great affection on the part of
those for whom they work. We have already seen that the
Algonquins had no word for “love” in their language, and
that the Tinne Indians had no equivalent for “dear” or
“ beloved.” Captain Lefroy * says, “ I endeavoured to put
this intelligibly to Nannette, by supposing such an expression
as ma chere femme ; ma chere fille. When at length she
understood it, her reply was (with great emphasis), ‘ I’disent
jamais 5a ; i’disent ma femme, ma fille.’ ” Spix and Mar-
tius f tell us that among the Brazilian tribes, the father has
scarcely any, the mother only an instinctive affection for the
child — “ iibrigens wachst das Kind, vom Yater gar nicht, von
dcr Mutter instinctartig geliebt, jedocli wcnig gepflegt auf.”
There can be no doubt that, as an almost universal rule,
savages are cruel, and the only arguments we can urge in
their favor are that they are less sensitive to pain than is
the case with those who spend much of their time in-doors,
and that in many cases they do not hesitate to inflict upon
themselves also the most horrible tortures.
Savages have often been likened to children, but so far as
intelligence is concerned, a child of four years old is far
* Richardson’s Arctic Expedition, vol. ii., p. 24. f Rcise, vol. i., p. 381.
SAVAGES AND CHILDREN.
463
superior ; although if we take for comparison a child belong-
ing to a civilized race at a sufficiently early age, the parallel
is fair enough. Thus, they have no steadiness of purpose.
Speaking of the Dogrib Indians, we found, says Richardson,*
“ by experience, that however high the reward they expected
to receive on reaching their destination, they could not be
depended on to carry letters. A slight difficulty, the prospect
of a banquet on venison, or a sudden impulse to visit some
friend, were sufficient to turn them aside for an indefinite
length of time.” Even among the comparatively civilised
South Sea Islanders this childishness was very apparent.
“ Their tears indeed, f like those of children, were always
ready to express any passion that was strongly excited, and
like those of children they also appeared to be forgotten as
soon as shed.” D’Urville also mentions that Tai-wanga, a
New Zealand chief, cried like a child, because the sailors
spoilt his favorite cloak, by powdering it with flour.J It is
not, says Cook, “ indeed strange that the sorrows of these
artless people should be transient, any more than that their
passions should be suddenly and strongly expressed ; what
they feel, they have never been taught either to disguise or
suppress, and having no habits of thinking which perpetually
recal the past, and anticipate the future, they are affected by
all the changes of the passing hour, and reflect the color of
the time, however frequently it may vary ; they have no
project which is to be pursued from day to day, the subject
of unremitted anxiety and solicitude, that first rushes into
the mind when they awake in the morning, and is last dis-
missed when they sleep at night. Yet if we admit that they
are upon the whole happier than we, we must admit that the
child is happier than the man, and that we are losers by the
* Arctic Expedition, vol. ii., p. 23. + Cook’s First Voyage, p. 103.
+ D’tJrville, vol. ii., p. 398. See also Burton’s Lake Regions of Central
Africa, p. 332.
4G4
SAVAGES AND CHILDREN.
perfection of our nature, the increase of our knowledge, and
the enlargement of our views.”
We know tlie difficulty which children find in pronouncing
certain sounds : r and l for instance, they constantly confound.
This is the case also among the Sandwich Islanders and in the
Ladrones according to Freycinet ;* in Yanikoro ; f among
the Dammaras ; + and in the Tonga Islands. § The frequent
repetition of a syllable is also noticeable in the languages
of savages, and especially in names. Mr. Darwin observed
that the Fuegians had great difficulty in comprehending an
alternative : and every one must have noticed the tendency
among savages to form words by reduplication. This also
is characteristic of childhood among civilised races.
Again, some of the most brutal acts which have been
recorded against them are to be regarded less as instances of
deliberate cruelty, than of a childish thoughtlessness and im-
pulsiveness. A striking instance of this is recorded by B}rron
in his narrative of the Loss of the Wager. A cacique of the
Chonos, who was nominally a Christian, had been out with
his wife to fish for sea-eggs, and having had little success,
returned in a bad humour. “ A little boy of theirs, about
three years old, whom they appeared to be doatingly fond of,
watching for his father and mother’s return, ran into the
surf to meet them : the father handed a basket of eeffs to
the child, which being too heavy for him to carry, he let it
fall, upon which the father jumped out of the canoe, and
catching the boy up in his arms, dashed him with the
utmost violence against the stones. The poor little creature
lay motionless and bleeding, and in that condition was taken
up by the mother, but died soon after.” ||
* Yol. ii., pp. 260, 519. f Vol. v., p. 218.
X Galton. Tropical South Africa, p. 181.
§ Mariner’s Tonga Islands, vol. i., p. 30.
I| Byron’s Loss of the Wager. Kerr’s Voyages, vol. xvii., p. 374.
MORAL INFERIORITY OF SAVAGES.
‘IG5
In fact, we may almost sum up this part of the question in
a few words by saying, as the most general conclusion which
, can be arrived at, that savages have the character of children
with the passions and strength of men. No doubt different
races of savages differ very much in character. An Esqui-
maux and a Feegeean, for instance, have little in common.
But after making every possible allowance for savages, it
must I think be admitted that they are inferior morally as
well as in other respects, to the more civilised races. There
is indeed no atrocious crime, no vice recorded by any tra-
veller, which might not be paralleled in Europe, but that
which is with us the exception, is with them the rule ; that
which with us is condemned by the general verdict of
society, and is confined to the uneducated and the vicious, is
among savages passed over almost without condemnation, and
often treated as a matter of course. Among the Feegeeans,
for instance, parricide is not a crime, but a custom, and other
similar cases have been already mentioned.
If we now turn to the mental differences between civil-
ised and uncivilised races we shall find them very strongly
marked. Speaking of a Bushman tribe, Burchell observes
that “ whether capable of reflection or not, these individuals
never exerted it.”* The Rev. T. Dove describes the Tas-
manians as distinguished “ by the absence of all moral views
and impressions. Every idea bearing on our origin and des-
tination as rational beings seems to have been erased from
their breasts.” f It woidd be easy to fill a volume with the
evidence of excessive stupidity recorded by different travellers
It might be perhaps thought that these were rather instances
of individual dulness, than any indication of a national cha-
racteristic ; but in the nature and capacity of a language we
find a test and measure of the higher minds in a nation.
Unfortunately, however, travellers have found it difficult
* l.c. vol. i., p. 461. t Tasmanian J ournal of Natural Science, vol. i., p. 219.
30
4G6
INTELLECTUAL INFERIORITY OF SAVAGES.
enough to obtain vocabularies of the words in use ; and
we seldom get any information as to words for which savages
have no equivalent, or ideas which they do not possess.
I have, however, already mentioned the deficiency of some
North American languages in terms of endearment ; this
fact suggests a melancholy condition of the domestic rela-
tions, but it may here be referred to again as an evidence of
a low mental, as well as moral, condition. What Spix and
Martins tell as about the Brazilian tribes* appears also to be
true of many, if not of most, savage races. Their vocabulary
is rich, and they have separate names for the different parts
of the body, for all the different animals and plants with
which they are acquainted, for everything, in fact, which
they can see and handle. Yet they are entirely deficient in
words for abstract ideas ; they have no expressions for color,
tone, sex, genus, spirit, etc. So, again, the Tasmanians had
no word for a tree, though they had a name for each species ;
nor could they express “qualities such as hard, soft, warm,
cold, long, short, round, etc. : for ‘ hard ’ they would say
‘like a stone;’ for ‘tall’ they would say ‘long legs,’ etc.;
and for ‘ round ’ they said ‘ like a ball,’ ‘ like the moon,’ and
so on.”f According to the missionaries, + Fuegians have
“ no abstract terms for expressing the truths of our religion ; ”
and among the North American languages “a term sufficiently
general to denote an ‘oak tree’ is exceptional.” § Even the
comparatively civilised inhabitants of Tahiti had, according
to Forster, “no proper words for expressing abstract ideas.” ||
The names for numbers arc, however, among the lower races,
the best, or at least the most easily applicable test of mental
condition.
We have seen that the Esquimaux can only with difficulty
* Rcise in Brazilien, vol. i., p, 385. J The Voice of Pity, vol. x., p. 152.
t Milligan. Proc. Roy. Society. Tas- § Latham. Varieties of Man, p. 375.
mania, vol. iii., p. 281. || l.c. p. 403.
DEFICIENCIES IN NUMERATION.
4G7
count up to ten, and that some individuals cannot go beyond
five. The Dammaras “ in practice, whatever the}'' may
possess in their language, certainly use no numeral greater
than three. When they wish to express four, they take to
their fingers, which are to them as formidable instruments of
calculation as a sliding rule is to an English schoolboy.
They puzzle very much after five, because no spare hand
remains to grasp and secure the fingers that are required
for units.”* Mr. Crawfurd, to whom we are indebted for an
interesting paper on this subject,! has examined no less than
thirty Australian languages, and it appears that none of the
tribes in that vast continent can count beyond four. Ac-
cording to Mr. Scott Xind, indeed, the numerals used by the
natives of King George’s Sound reach up to five ; but the
last is merely the word “ many.” The Brazilian Indians
count only up to three ; for any higher number they use the
word “many.”! The Cape Yorkers (Australia) can hardly
be said to go beyond two ; their numerals are as follows :
One Netat.
Two Naes.
Three Naes-neiat.
Four Nacs-nacs.
Five Naes-nacs-netat.
Six Naes-naes-nacs.
Again, in the state of their religious conceptions, or rather
in the absence of religious conceptions, we get another proof
of extreme mental inferiority. It has been asserted over
and over again that there is no race of men so degraded
as to be entirely without a religion — without some idea of a
deity. So far from this being true, the very reverse is the
case. Many, we might almost say all, of the most savage
* Galton’s Tropical Africa, p. 133.
f Ethnological Society’s Transactions, New Series, vol. ii., p. 84.
+ Spix and Martius, vol. i., p. 387.
468
ABSENCE OF A RELIGION
races are, according to the nearly universal testimony of
travellers, in this condition. Much evidence of this has been
already given, but it would be easy to collect a great many
other statements to the same effect. Thus Burton states that
some of the tribes in the Lake districts of Central Africa
“ admit neither God, nor angel, nor devil.”* The Tasmanians
had no word for a creator. f The South American Indians of
the Gran Chaco are said by the missionaries to have “ no reli-
gious or idolatrous belief or worship whatever ; neither do they
possess any idea of God, or of a supreme being. They make
no distinction between right and wrong, and have therefore
neither fear nor hope of any present or future punishment
or reward, nor any mysterious terror of some supernatural
power, whom they might seek to assuage by sacrifices or
superstitious rites.” J According to Burchell,§ the Bachapins
(Caffres) had no form of worship or religion. They thought
“that everything made itself, and that trees and herbage grew
by their own will.” They had no belief in a good deity, but
some vague idea of an evil Being. Indeed the first idea of a
God is almost always as an evil spirit. In the Pellew Islands,
Wilson found no religious buildings, nor any sign of religion.
According to Spix and Martius, the Brazilian Indians believed
in the existence of a devil, but not of a God. |f Some of the
tribes, according to Bates and Wallace, were entirely without
religion. The Yenadies and the Villecs are, according to
Dr. Short, entirely without any belief in a future state,
Captain Grant could find “no distinct form of religion” in
some of the comparatively civilised tribes visited by him.**
And, again, Hooker tells us that the Lepclias of Northern
India have no religion. The Toupinambas of Brazil had no
•Transactions of the Ethnological § Travels in S. Africa, vol. ii., p. 550.
Society, New Scries, vol. i., p. 323. || Reise in Brasilien, vol. i., p. 379.
+ Rev. T. Dove. Tasmanian Journal IT Proceedingsof Madras Government,
of Science, vol. i., p. 249. Revenue Department, May, 1864.
+ ^ oice of Pity, vol. ix., p. 220. *• A Walk across Africa, p. 145.
AMONG SAVAGE RACES.
4G9
religion, though if the name is applied “a des notions fantas-
tiques d’etres surnaturels et puissans, on lie sauroit nier
qu’ils n’eussent une croyance religieuse et nieme une sorte de
culte exterieur.” They believed in the existence of a heaven
for those who had killed and eaten many of their enemies ;
while those who were etfeminate would be compelled to dwell
“ avec Aygnan (le diablc), aupres duquel elles sont perpetu-
ellement tourmentees.”* Moreover, we must remember that
most travellers start with an entirely opposite impression*
and are only convinced against their will. We have already
observed a case of this kind in Kolben, who, in spite of the
assertions of the natives themselves, felt quite sure that
certain dances must be of a religious character, “ let the
Hottentots say what they will.” Again, Mr. Matthews, who
went out to act as missionary among- the Fueg-ians, but was
soon obliged to abandon the hopeless task, observed only one
act, “ which could be supposed devotional.” He sometimes,
we are told, “heard a great howling or lamentation, about
sunrise in the morning; and upon asking Jemmy Button
what occasioned the outcry, he could obtain no satisfactory
answer ; the boy only saying, ‘ people very sad, cry very
much.’ ” This appears so natural and sufficient an explana-
tion, that why the outcry should be “supposed devotional,”
I must confess myself unable to see. Once more, Hr.
Hooker states that the Khasias, an Indian tribe, had no
religion. Ool. Yule,* on the contrary, says that they have*
but he admits that breaking hen’s eggs is “the principal
part of their religious practice.” But if most travellers
have expected to find a religion everywhere, and have been
convincod, almost against their will, that the reverse is the
case; it is quite possible that there may have been others
who have too hastily denied the existence of a religion
* Freycinet, vol. i., p. 153. f Yule. On the Khasia Hills md People, p. 18.
470
BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT.
among' the tribes they visited. However this may be, those
who assert that even the lowest savages believe in a Deity,
affirm that which is entirely contrary to the evidence. The
direct testimony of travellers on this point is indirectly cor-
roborated by their other statements. IIow, for instance, can
a people who are unable to count their ora fingers, possibly
raise their mind so far as to admit even the rudiments of a
religion.* The fetish worship, which is so widely prevalent
in Africa, can hardly be called a religion ; and even the
South Sea Islanders, who were in many respects so highly
civilised, are said to have been sei'iously offended with their
Deity if they thought that he treated them with undue
severity, or without proper consideration. According to
Kotzebue, the Kamtschatkans adored their deities “ when
their wishes were fulfilled, and insulted them when their
affairs went amiss.” f When the missionaries introduced a
printing-press into Feegee “ the heathen at once declared
it to be a God.” +
The savage almost everywhere is a believer in witchcraft.
Confusing together subjective and objective relations, he
is a prey to constant fears. Nor is the belief in sorcery
altogether shaken off even by the most civilised nations.
James the First was under the impression that by melting
little images of wax “ the persons that they bear the name
of may be continually melted or dried away by continual
sickness.” As regards pictures, the most curious fancies
exist among savage races. They have a very general dislike to
be represented, thinking that the artist thereby acquires some
mysterious power over them. If the picture is like, so much
the worse. So much life, they argue, could not be put into
the drawing except at the expense of the original. Kane on
* See, for instance, Grey’s Creed of Christendom, p. 212.
f New Voyage Round the World, vol. ii., p. 13.
+ Rigi and the Figians, vol. ii., p. 222.
BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT.
471
one occasion freed himself from some importunate Indians,
by threatening to draw them if they did not go away. I
have already mentioned (p. 425) the danger in which Cat! in
found himself from sketching a chief in profile, and thereby
as it was supposed depriving him of half his face. So again
a mysterious connexion is supposed to exist between a cut
lock of hair and the person to whom it belonged. In various
parts of the world the sorcerer gets clippings of the hair of
his enemy, parings of his nails or leavings of his food, con-
vinced that whatever evil is done to these, will react on their
former owner. Even a piece of clothing, or the ground on
which a person has trodden, will answer the purpose, and
among some tribes the mere knowledge of a person’s name
is supposed to give a mysterious power. The Indians of
British Columbia have a great horror of telling their names.
Among the Algonquins a person’s real name is communicated
only to his nearest relations and dearest friends : the outer
world address him by a kind of nickname. Thus, the true
name of La Belle Sauvage was not Pocahontas, but Matokcs,
which they were afraid to communicate to the English. In
some tribes these name-fancies take a different form. Ac-
cording to Ward, it is an unpardonable sin for a Hindoo
woman to mention the name of her husband. The Kaffirs
have a similar custom, and so have some East African tribes.
In many parts of the world the names of the dead are
avoided with superstitious horror. This is the case in great
parts of North and South America, in Siberia, among the
Papuans and Australians, and even in Shetland, where it is
said that widows are very reluctant to mention their departed
husbands.
Throughout Australia, among some of the Brazilian tribes,
in parts of Africa, and in various other countries, natural
death is regarded as an impossibility. In the New Hebrides
“ when a man fell ill, he knew that some sorcerer was burn-
472
GENERAL INFERIORITY OF SAVAGES.
ing liis rubbish, and shell-truinpets, which could be heard
for miles, were blown to signal to the sorcerers to stop, and
wait for the presents which would be sent next morning.
Night after night, Mr. Turner used to hear the melancholy
too-tooing- of the shells, entreating the wizards to stop
plaguing their victims.” * Savages never know but what
they may be placing themselves in the power of these terrible
enemies.! The sufferings and privations which they thus
undergo, the horrible tortures which they sometimes inflict
on themselves, and the crimes which they are led to commit,
are melancholy in the extreme. It is not too much to say
that the horrible dread of unknown evil hangs like a thick
cloud over savage life, and embitters every pleasure.
Perhaps it will be thought that in the preceding chapter I
have selected from various works all the passages most un-
favorable to savages, and that the picture I have drawn of
them is unfair. In reality the very reverse is the case.
Their real condition is even worse and more abject than that
which I have endeavoured to depict. I have been careful to
quote only from trustworthy authorities, but there are many
things stated by them which I have not ventured to repeat ;
and there are other facts which even the travellers themselves
were ashamed to publish.
* Tvlor, l.e. p. 129; Turner’s Polynesia, pp. 18, 89, 424.
t See Brown. New Zealand and its Aborigines, p. 80.
473
CHAPTER XIY.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
I HA YE already expressed ray belief that the simpler arts
aud implements have been independently invented by
various tribes, and in very different parts of the world. Even
at the present day we may, I think, obtain glimpses of the
manner in which they were, or may have been, invented. Some
monkeys are said to use clubs, and to throw sticks and stones
at those who intrude upon them. We know that they use
round stones for cracking nuts, and surely a very small step
would lead from that to the application of a sharp stone for
cutting. When the edge became blunt, it would be thrown
away, and another chosen ; but after awhile accident, if not
reflection, would show, that a round stone woidd crack other
stones, as well as nuts, and thus the savage would learn to
make sharp-edged stones for himself. At first, as we see in
the drift specimens, these would be coarse and rough, but
gradually the pieces chipped off would become smaller, the
blows would be more cautiously and thoughtfully given, and
at length it would be found that better work might be done
by pressure than by blows. From pressure to polishing
would again be but a small step. In making flint imple-
ments sparks would be produced ; in polishing them it would
not fail to be observed that they became hot, and in this
wa}r it is easy to sec how the two methods of obtaining fire
may have originated.
474
THE PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN.
The chimpanzee builds himself a house or shelter almost
equal to that of some savages. Our earliest ancestors there-
fore may have had this art ; but even if not, when they
became hunters, and as we find to be the case with all
hunting tribes, supplemented the inefficiency of their wea-
ppns by a wonderful acquaintance with the manners and
customs of the animals on which they preyed, they could not
fail to observe, and perhaps to copy, the houses which
various species of animals construct for themselves.
The Esquimaux have no pottery ; they use hollow stones
as a substitute, but we have seen how they sometimes improve
upon these by a rim of clay. To extend this rim, diminish,
and at last replace the stone, is an obvious process. In
hotter countries, vessels of wood, or the shells of fruits such
as cocoa-nuts and gourds, are used for holding liquids.
These of course will not stand fire, but by plastering them
on the outside with clay they would be enabled to do so.
There is some evidence that this obvious improvement has
been made by several separate tribes even in modern times.*
Other similar cases might be mentioned, in which by a very
simple and apparently obvious process, an important improve-
ment is secured. It seems very improbable that any such
advantage should ever be lost again. There is no evidence,
says Mr. Tylor,f “of any tribe giving up the use of the
spindle to twist their thread by hand, or having been in the
habit of working the fire-drill with a thong, and going back
to the clumsier practice of working it without, and it is even
hard to fancy such a thing happening.” What follows from
this argument ? Evidently that the lowest races of existing
savages must, always assuming the common origin of the
human race, be at least as far advanced as were our ancestors
when they spread over the earth’s surface.
♦ See Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 269.
f l.c. p. 364.
THE PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN.
475
What, then, must have been their condition ? They were
ignorant of pottery, for the Esquimaux, the Polynesians, the
Australians, some North and South American tribes, and
many other savage races, have none even now, or at least
had none until quite lately. They had no bows and arrows,
for these weapons were unknown to the Australians and New
Zealanders ; their boats for the same reason must have been
of the rudest possible character ; they were naked, and igno-
rant of the art of spinning ; they had no knowledge of
agriculture, and probably no domestic animal but the dog,
though here the argument is weaker, inasmuch as experience
is more portable than property. It is, however, in my
opinion, most probable that the dog was long the only domes-
ticated animal. Of the more unusual weapons, such as the
boomerang, blowpipe, bolas, etc., they were certainly igno-
rant. The sling and the throwing-stick were doubtless
unknown, and even the shield had probably not been in-
vented. The spear, which is but a development of the knife-
point, and the club, which is but a long hammer, are the
only things left by this line of argument. They seem to be
the only natural and universal weapons of man.
We might be disposed to wonder how man was at first
able to kill game ; but we must remember that if man was
unskilful, animals were unsuspicious. The tameness of the
birds on uninhabited islands is well known ; the wariness of
animals and the skill of man must have increased almost
pari passu.
The same argument may be applied to the mental con-
dition of savages. That our earliest ancestors could have
counted to ten is very improbable, considering that so many
races now in existence cannot get beyond four. On the
other hand it is very improbable that man can have existed
in a lower condition than that thus indicated. So long,
indeed, as he was confined to the tropics, he may have found
476
THE PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN.
a succession of fruits, and have lived as the monkeys do now.
Indeed, according to Bates, this is the case with some of the
Brazilian Indians. “ The monkeys ” he says “ lead in fact
a life similar to that of the Pararauate Indians.” Directly,
however, our ancestors spread into temperate climates, this
mode of life would become impossible, and they would he
compelled to seek their nourishment, in part at least, from
the animal kingdom. Then, if not before, the knife and the
hammer would develop into the spear and the club.
It is too often supposed that the world was peopled by a
series of “ migrations.” But migrations, properly so called,
are compatible only with a comparatively high state of or-
ganisation. Moreover, it has been observed that the geo-
graphical distribution of the various races of man curiously
coincides with that of other races of animals : and there can
be no doubt that man originally crept over the earth’s sur-
face, little by little, year by year, just for instance as the
weeds of Europe are now gradually but surely creeping
over the surface of Australia.
The preceding argument assumes, of course, the unity of
the human race. It would, however, be impossible for me
to end this volume without saying a few words on this great
question. It must be admitted that the principal varieties
of mankind are of great antiquity. "We find on the earliest
Egyptian monuments, some of which are certainly as ancient
as 2400 b.c., “ two great distinct types, the Arab on the east
and west of Egypt, and the Negro on the south ; and the
Egyptian type occupying a middle place between the two.
The representations of the monuments, although conven-
tional, are so extremely characteristic that it is quite impos-
ble to mistake them.” These distinct types still predominate
in Egypt and the neighbouring countries. Thus, then, says
Mr. Boole, in this immense interval we do not find “ the least
change in the Negro or the Arab ; and even the type which
UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE.
477
seems to be intermediate between them is virtually as un-
altered. Those who consider that leng-th of time can chance
a type of man, will do well to consider the fact that three
thousand years give no ratio on which a calculation could be
founded.”* I am, however, not aware that it is supposed by
any school of Ethnologists that “ time ” alone, without a
change of external conditions, will produce an alteration of
type. Let us turn now to the instances relied on by Mr.
Crawfurd.f The millions, he says, “ of African Negroes
that have during three centuries been transported to the
New World and its islands, are the same in color as the
present inhabitants of the parent country of their forefathers.
The Creole Spaniards, who have for at least as long a time
been settled in tropical America, are as fair as the people of
Arragon and Andalusia, with the same variety of color in
the hair and eye as their progenitors. The pure Dutch
Creole colonists of the Cape of Good Hope, after dwelling
two centuries among black Caffres and yellow Hottentots, do
not differ in color from the people of Holland.” Here, on
the contrary, we have great change of circumstances, but
a very insufficient lapse of time, and in fact there is no
well-authenticated case in which these two requisites are
united. But Mr. Crawfurd goes too far when he denies
altogether any change of type. In spite of the compara-
tively short time which has elapsed, and of the immense
immigration which has been kept up, there is already a
marked difference between the English of Europe and those
of America, and it would be desirable to enquire, whether
in their own eyes, the Negroes of the New World exactly
resemble those of Africa.
But there arc some reasons which make it probable that
changes of external condition, or rather of country, produce
* Poole. Trans. Ethn. Soc. New Ser. vol. ii., p. 2G1.
f Crawfurd. Trans. Ethn. Soc. New Ser. vol. ii., p. 252.
478
NATURAL SELECTION
less effect now than was formerly the case. At present,
when men migrate they carry with them the manners and
appliances of civilised life. They build houses more or less
like those to which they have been accustomed, carry with
them Hocks and herds, and introduce into their new country
the principal plants which served them for food in the old.
If their new abode is cold they increase their clothing, if
warm they diminish it. In these and a thousand other ways
the effect which would otherwise he produced is greatly
retarded.
But, as we have seen, this has not always been the case.
When man first spread over the earth, he had no domestic
animals, perhaps not even the dog ; no knowledge of agricul-
ture ; his weapons were of the rudest character, and his
houses scarcely worthy of the name. Ilis food, habits, and
whole manner of life must then have varied as he passed
from one country to another, he must have been far more
subject to the influence of external circumstances, and in all
probability more susceptible of change. Moreover, his form,
which is now stereotyped by long ages of repetition, may
reasonably be supposed to have been itself more plastic than
is now the case.
If there is any truth in this view of the subject, it will
necessarily follow that the principal varieties of man are of
great antiquity, and in fact go back almost to the very origin
of the human race. We may then cease to wonder that the
earliest paintings on Egyptian tombs represent so accurately
several varieties still existing in those regions, and that the
Engis skull, probably the most ancient yet found in Europe,
so closely resembles many that may be seen even at the
present day.
This argument has been carried still farther by Mr. Wal-
lace in an admirable memoir on “ The Origin of Human
Baces and the Antiquity of Man deduced from the theory of
APPLIED TO MAN.
479
Natural Selection.” * He lias attempted to reconcile tlie two
great scliools of ethnologists who hold opinions “ so dia-
metrically opposed to each other ; the one party positively
maintaining that man is a species, and is essentially one —
that all differences are hut local and temporary variations,
produced by the different physical and moral conditions by
which he is surrounded ; the other party maintaining with
equal confidence that man is a genus of many species, each of
which is practically unchangeable, and has ever been as
distinct, or even more distinct, than we now behold them.”
Mr. Wallace himself holds the former of these theories,
although admitting that at present apparently “ the best of
the argument is on the side of those who maintain the
primitive diversity of man,” and he shows that the true
solution of this difficulty lies in the theory of Natural Selec-
tion, which with characteristic unselfishness he ascribes un-
reservedly to Mr. Darwin, although, as is well known, he
struck out the idea independently and published it, though
not with the same elaboration, at the same time.
After explaining the true nature of the theory, which it
must be confessed, is even yet very much misunderstood, he
points out that as long as man led what may be called an
animal existence, he would be subject to the same laws, and
would vary in the same manner as the rest of his fellow-
creatures, but that at length “by the capacity of clothing
himself, and making weapons and tools (he) has taken away
from nature that power of changing the external form and
structure which she exercises over all other animals
From the time, then, when the social and sympathetic feel-
in o-s came into active operation, and the intellectual and
moral faculties became fairly developed, man would cease to
be influenced by natural selection in his physical form and
* Anthropological Review, May, 1884.
480
THE INFLUENCE OF MIND.
structure ; as an animal lie would remain almost stationary ;
the changes of the surrounding universe would cease to have
upon him that powerful modifying effect which it exercises
over other parts of the organic world. But from the
moment that his body became stationary, his mind would
become subject to those very influences from which his body
had escaped ; every slight variation in his mental and moral
nature which should enable him better to guard against
adverse circumstances, and combine for mutual comfort and
protection, would be preserved and accumulated ; the better
and higher specimens of our race would therefore increase and
spread, the lower and more brutal would give way and suc-
cessively die out, and that rapid advancement of mental
organisation would occur, which has raised the very lowest
races of men so far above the brutes, (although differing so
little from some of them in physical structure), and, in
conjunction with scarcely perceptible modifications of form,
has developed the wonderful intellect of the Germanic
races.”
Mr. "Wallace appears to me, however, to press his argu-
ment a little too far when he says that man is no longer
“influenced by natural selection,” and that his body has
“become stationary.” Slow and gradual changes still
take place, although his “mere bodily structure” long-
ago became of less importance to man than “that subtle
force we term mind.” This, as Mr. Wallace eloquently
says, “with a naked and unprotected body, this gave him
clothing against the varying inclemencies of the seasons.
Though unable to compete with the deer in swiftness, or
with the wild bull in strength, this gave him weapons where-
witli to capture or overcome both. Though less capable than
most other animals of living on the herbs and the fruits that
unaided nature supplies, this wonderful faculty taught him
to govern and direct nature to his own benefit, and make her
THE INFLUENCE OF MIND.
481
produce food for him when and where he pleased. From the
moment when the first skin was used as a covering, when
the first rude spear was formed to assist in the chase, the
first seed sown or shoot planted, a grand revolution was
effected in nature, a revolution which in all the previous ages
of the world’s history had had no parallel, for a being had
arisen who was no longer necessarily subject to change with
the changing universe, — a being who was in some degree
superior to nature, inasmuch as he knew how to control
and regulate her action, and could keep himself in harmony
with her, not by a change in body, but by an advance in
mind.
“ Ilere, then, we see the true grandeur and dignity of man.
On this view of his special attributes, we may admit that
even those who claim for him a position and an order, a
class, or a sub-kingdom by himself, have some reason on
their side. He is, indeed, a being apart, since he is not
influenced by the great laws which irresistibly modify all
other organic beings. Nay, more : this victory which he
has gained for himself gives him a directing influence over
other existences. Man has not only escaped ‘ natural selec-
tion’ himself, but he is actually able to take away some of
that power from nature which, before his appearance, she
universally exercised. We can anticipate the time when the
earth will produce only cultivated plants and domestic ani-
mals ; when man’s selection shall have supplanted ‘ natural
selection ; ’ and when the ocean will be the only domain in
which that power can be exerted, which for countless cycles
of ages ruled supreme over the earth.”
Thus, then, the great principle of Natural Selection, which
is to biology what the law of gravitation is for astronomy, not
only throws an unexpected light on the past, but illuminates
the future with hope ; nor can I but feel surprised that a
theory which thus teaches us humility for the past, faith in
31
482
INCREASE OF HAPPINESS,
the present, and hope for the future, should have been re-
garded as opposed to the principles of Christianity or the
interests of true religion.
But even if the theory of “natural selection” should event-
ually prove to be untenable, and if those are right who believe
that neither our minds nor our bodies are susceptible of any
important change, any great improvement, still I think we are
justified in believing that the happiness of man is greatly on
the increase. It is generally admitted that if any animal
increases in numbers it must be because the conditions are
becoming more favorable to it, in other words, because it is
happier and more comfortable. Now, how will this test
apply to man P Schoolcraft estimates* that in a population
which lives on the produce of the chase, each him ter requires
on an average 50,000 acres, or 78 square miles, for his sup-
port. Again, he tells usf that, excluding Michigan territory,
west of Lake Michigan, and north of Illinois, there were in
the United States, in 1825, about 97,000 Indians, occupying
77.000. 000 of acres, or 120,312 square miles. This gives one
inhabitant to every 1| square miles. In this case, however,
the Indians lived partly on the subsidies granted them by
Government in exchange for land, and the population was
therefore greater than would have been the case if they had
lived entirely on the produce of the chase. The same reason
affects, though to a smaller extent, the Indians in the Hud-
son’s Bay territory. These tribes were estimated by Sir
George Simpson, late Governor of the territories belonging
to the Hudson’s Bay Company, in his evidence given before
the Committee of the House of Commons, in 1857, at
139.000, and the extent is supposed to be more than
1,400,000 square miles, to which we must add 13,000 more
for Vancouver’s Island, making a total of more than
* Indian Tribes, vol. i., p. 433.
t l.c. vol. iii., p. 575.
SHOWN BY INCREASE OF NUMBERS.
483
900,000,000 of acres ; about 6,500 acres, or 10 square miles,
to each individual. Again, the inhabitants of Patagonia,
south of 40°, and exclusive of Chiloe and Tierra del Fuego,
are estimated by Admiral Fitzroy at less than 4,000, and the
number of acres is 176,640,000, giving more than 44,000
acres, or 68 square miles for each person. A writer in the
“Yoice of Pity,” however, thinks that their numbers may,
perhaps, amount to 14,000 or 15,000.* It would be difficult
to form any census of the aborigines in Australia ; Mr. Old-
field estimates that there is one native to every 50 square
miles ; f and it is, at least, evident that, since the introduc-
tion of civilisation, the total population of that continent has
greatly increased.
Indeed, population invariably increases with civilisation.
Paraguay, with 100,000 square miles, has from 300,000 to
500.000 inhabitants, or about four to a square mile. The
uncivilised parts of Mexico contained 374,000 inhabitants in
675.000 square miles; wffiile Mexico proper, with 833,600
square miles, had 6,691,000 inhabitants. Naples had more
than 183 inhabitants to each square mile; Venetia more
than 200, Lombardy 280, England 280, Belgium as many
as 320.
Finally, we cannot but observe that, under civilisation,
the means of subsistence have increased, even more rapidly
than the population. Far from suffering for want of food,
the more densely peopled countries are exactly those in
which it is, not only absolutely, but even relatively most
abundant. It is said that any one who makes two blades of
grass grow where one grew before, is a benefactor to the
human race ; what, then, shall we say of that which enables
a thousand men to live in plenty, where one savage could
scarcely find a scanty and precarious subsistence ?
* l.e. vol. ii., p. 93.
f Trans. Ethn. Soc., New Ser., rol. iii., p. 220.
484
SUFFERINGS OF SAVAGES.
There are, indeed, many who doubt whether happiness
is increased by civilisation, and who talk of the free and
noble savage. But the true savage is neither free nor
noble ; he is a slave to his own wants, his own passions ;
imperfectly protected from the weather, he suffers from the
cold by night and the heat of the sun by day ; ignorant of
agriculture, living by the chase, and improvident in success,
hunger always stares him in the face, and often drives him
to the dreadful alternative of cannibalism or death.
Wild animals are always in danger. Mr. Galton, who is
so well qualified to form an opinion, believes that the life of
all beasts in their wild state is an exceedingly anxious one ;
that “every antelope in South Africa has literally to run
for its life once in every one or two days upon an average,
and that he starts or gallops under the influence of a false
alarm many times in a day.”* So it is with the savage ; he
is alwaj's suspicious, always in danger, always on the watch.
He can depend on no one, and no one can depend upon him.
He expects nothing from his neighbour, and does unto others
as he believes that they would do unto him. Thus his life
is one prolonged scene of selfishness and fear. Even in his
religion, if he has any, he creates for himself a new source of
terror, and peoples the world with invisible enemies. The
position of the female savage is even more wretched than
that of her master. She not only shares his sufferings, but
has to bear his ill-humour and ill-usage. She may truly be
said to be little better than his dog, a little dearer than his
horse. In Australia, Mr. Oldfield never saw a woman’s
grave, and does not think that the natives took the trouble
to bury them. But, indeed, he believes that few of them
are so fortunate as to die a natural death, “they being
generally despatched ere they become old and emaciated.
* Trans. Ethn. Soc., New Ser., vol. iii., p. 133.
SELF-INFLICTED SUFFERINGS.
485
that so much good food may not he lost In fine, so
little importance is attached to them, either before or after
death, that it may he doubted whether the man does not
value his dog, when alive, quite as much as he does his
woman, and think of both quite as often and lovingly after
he has eaten them.”*
Not content, however, with those incident to their mode of
life, savages appear to take a melancholy pleasure in self-
inflicted sufferings. Besides the very general practice of
tattooing, the most extraordinary methods of disfigurement
and self-torture are adopted ; some cut off the little finger,
some make an immense hole in the under lip, or pierce the
cartilage of the nose. The Easter Islanders enlarge their
ears till they come down to their shoulders ; the Chinooks,
and many other American tribes, alter the shape of their
heads ; the Chinese that of their feet. Some of the African
tribes chip their teeth in various manners, each community
having a fashion of its own. The Nyambanas, a division of
the Caffres, are characterised by a row of artificial pimples or
wrarts, about the size of a pea, and extending from the upper
part of the forehead to the tip of the nose. “ Of these they
are proud. ”f Some of the Bachapins, who have distinguished
themselves in battle, are allowed the privilege of marking
“their thigh with a long scar, which is rendered indelible
and of a bluish color, by means of wood ashes rubbed into
the fresh wound.” J In Australia, Captain King saw a native
ornamented with horizontal scars which extended across the
upper part of the chest. They were at least an inch in
diameter and protruded half an inch from the body.§ In
some parts of Australia, and in Tasmania, all the men have
* Trans. Ethn. Soe., New Ser., vol. J Burchell, l.c. vol. ii., pp. 478, 535.
iii., p. 248. § Narrative of a Survey of the Inter -
f United States’ Exploring Expe- tropical and Western Coasts of Austra-
dition, vol. i., p. 63. lia, p. 42.
486
SELF-INFLICTED SUFFERINGS.
a tooth knocked out in a very clumsy and painful manner. *
“ The inhabitants of Tanna have on their arms and bellies
elevated scars, representing plants, flowers, stars, and various
other figures. They are made by first cutting the skin with
a sharp bamboo reed, and then applying a certain plant to
the wound which raises the scar above the rest of the skin.
The inhabitants of Tazavan, or Formosa, by a very painful
operation impress on their naked skins various figures of
trees, flowers, and animals. The great men in Guinea have
their skin flowered like damask ; and in Decan the women
likewise have flowers cut into their flesh on the forehead, the
arms, and the breast, and the elevated scars are painted in
colors, and exhibit the appearance of flowered damask.
The native women in New South Wales used to tie a string
tightly round the little finger and wear it until the finger
rotted off. Few of these escaped the painful experience. J
The North American Indians also inflicted the most horrible
tortures upon themselves. These, and many other curious
practices, are none the less painful because they are
voluntary.
If we turn to the bright side of the question, the whole
analogy of nature justifies us in concluding that the pleasures
of civilised man are greater than those of the savage. As
we descend in the scale of organisation, we find that animals
become more and more vegetative in their characteristics ;
with less susceptibility to pain, and consequently less capacity
for happiness. It may, indeed, well be doubted whether
some of those beings, which from their anatomy we are com-
pelled to class as animals, have much more consciousness of
enjoyment, or even of existence, than a tree or a seaweed.
But even to animals which possess a clearly defined nervous
system, we must ascribe very different degrees of sensibility.
* Freycinet, vol. ii., p. 705. f Forster, l.c. p. 588. J D’Urville, vol. i., p. 406.
THE BLESSINGS OF CIVILISATION.
487
The study of the sensory organs in the lower animals offers
great difficulties ; hut at least we know that they are, in
many cases, few in number, and capable of conveying only
general impressions. Every one will admit that the posses-
sion of a new sense, or the improvement of an old one, is a
fresh source of possible happiness ; but how, it may be asked,
does this affect the present question P There are no just
grounds for expecting man to be ever endued with a sixth
sense ; so far from being able to improve the organisation of
the eye or the ear, we cannot make one hair black or white,
nor add one cubit to our stature. The invention of the tele-
scope and microscope is, however, equivalent in its results to
an immense improvement of the eye, and opens up to us new
worlds ; fresh sources of interest and happiness. Again,
we cannot alter the physical structure of the ear, but we can
train it, we can invent new musical instruments, compose
new melodies. The music of savages is rude and melancholy ;
and thus, though the ear of man may not have appreciably
altered, the pleasure which we may derive from it has been
immensely increased. Moreover, the savage is like a child
who sees and hears only that which is brought directly before
him, but the civilised man questions nature, and by the
various processes of chemistry, by electricity, and magnetism,
by a thousand ingenious contrivances, he forces nature to
throw light upon herself, discovers hidden uses and unsus-
pected beauties, almost as if he were endowed with some
entirely new organ of sense.
The love of travel is deeply implanted in the human
breast ; it is an immense pleasure to visit other countries,
and see new races of men. Again, the discovery of printing
brings all who choose into communion with the greatest
minds. The thoughts of a Shakespeare or a Tennyson, the
discoveries of a Newton or a Darwin, become at once the
common property of mankind. Already the results of this
488
THE DIMINUTION OF SUFFERING.
all-important, though simple, process have been equivalent
to an immense improvement of our mental faculties, and day
by day as books become cheaper, schools are established, and
education is improved, a greater and greater effect will be
produced.
The well-known proverb against looking a gift horse in
the mouth does not apply to the gifts of nature ; they will
bear the closest inspection, and the more we examine, the
more we shall find to admire. Nor are these new sources of
happiness accompanied by any new liability to suffering ; on
the contrary, while our pleasures are increased, our pains are
lessened ; in a thousand ways we can avoid or diminish evils
which to our ancestors were great and inevitable. How
much misery, for instance, has been spared to the human
race by the single discovery of chloroform p The capacity
for pain, so far as it can serve as a warning, remains in full
force, but the necessity for endurance has been greatly
diminished. With increased knowledge of, and attention
to, the laws of health, disease will become less and less fre-
quent. Those tendencies thereto which we have derived
from our ancestors, will gradually die out ; and if fresh
seeds are not sown, our race may one day realise the
advantages of health.
Thus, then, with the increasing influence of science, we
may confidently look to a great improvement in the condition
of man. But it may be said that our present sufferings and
sorrows arise principally from sin, and that any moral im-
provement must be due to religion, not to science. This
separation of the two mighty agents of improvement is the
great misfortune of humanity, and has done more than any-
thing else to retard the progress of civilisation. But even if
for the moment we admit that science will not render us
more virtuous, it must certainly make us more innocent.
Out of 129,000 persons committed to prison in England and
THE DIMINUTION OF SIN.
489
Wales during the year 18G3, only 4829 could read and
write well. In fact, our criminal population are mere
savages, and most of their crimes are hut injudicious and
desperate attempts to act as savages in the midst, and at the
expense, of a civilised community.
Men do not sin for the sake of sinning ; they yield to
temptation. Most of our unhappiness arises from a mis-
taken pursuit of pleasure ; from a misapprehension of that
which constitutes true happiness. Men do wrong, either
from ignorance, or in the unexpressed hope that they may
enjoy the pleasure, and yet avoid the penalty of sin. In
this respect there can he no doubt that religious teaching
is widely mistaken. Repentance is too often regarded as a
substitute for punishment. Sin it is thought is followed
either by the one or the other. So far, however, as our
world is concerned, this is not the case ; repentance may
enable a man to avoid punishment in future, but has no
effect on the consequences of the past. The laws of nature
are just, and they are salutary, but they are also inexorable.
All men admit that “ the wages of sin is death,” but they
seem to think that this is a general rule to which there
may be many exceptions, that some sins may possibly tend
to happiness; as if there could be any thorns that would
grow grapes, any thistles which could produce figs. That
suffering is the inevitable consequence of sin, as surely as
night follows day, is, however, the stern yet salutary teach-
ing of Science. And surely if this lesson were thoroughly
impressed upon our minds, if we really believed in the cer-
tainty of punishment; that sin could not conduce to hap-
piness, temptation, which is at the very root of crime, would
be cut away, and mankind must necessarily become more
innocent.
May we not, however, go even farther than this, and say
that science will also render man more virtuous. “ To pass
490
THE ADVANTAGES OF SCIENCE.
our time,” says Lord Brougham,* “in the study of the
sciences, in learning what others have discovered, and in
extending the hounds of human knowledge has, in all ages,
been reckoned the most dignified and happy of human occu-
pations No man until he has studied philosophy,
can have a just idea of the great things for which Providence
has fitted his understanding ; the extraordinary dispropor-
tion which there is between his natural strength, and the
powers of his mind, and the force he derives from them.”
Finally, he concludes that science would not only “make our
lives more agreeable, but better : and that a rational being is
hound by every motive of interest and duty, to direct his
mind towards pursuits which are found to be the sure path
of virtue as well as of happiness.”
In reality we arc but on the threshold of civilisation. Far
from showing any indications of having come to an end, the
tendency to improvement seems latterly to have proceeded
with augmented impetus and accelerated rapidity. Why,
then, should we suppose that it must now cease ? Man has
surely not reached the limits of his intellectual development,
and it is certain that he lias not exhausted the infinite capa-
bilities of nature. There are many things which are not as
yet dreamt of in our philosophy ; many discoveries which
will immortalise those who make them, and confer upon the
human race advantages which as yet, perhaps, we are not in
a condition to appreciate. We may still say with our great
countryman, Sir Isaac Newton, that we have been hut like
children, playing on the seashore, and picking up here and
there a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary,
while the great ocean of truth lies all undiscovered before us.
Thus, then, the most sanguine hopes for the future are
justified by the whole experience of the past. It is surely
unreasonable to suppose that a process which has been going
* Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures of Science, p. 39.
THE FUTURE.
491
on for so many thousand years, should have now suddenly
ceased ; and he must be blind indeed who imagines that our
civilisation is unsusceptible of improvement, or that we our-
selves are in the highest state attainable by man. If we
turn from experience to theory, the same conclusion forces
itself upon us.
The great principle of natural selection, which in animals
affects the body and seems to have little influence on the
mind ; in man affects the mind and has little influence on
the body. In the first it tends mainly to the preservation of
life; in the second to the improvement of the mind and
consequently to the increase of happiness. It ensures, in the
words of Mr. Herbert Spencer, “a constant progress towards
a higher degree of skill, intelligence, and self-regulation — a
better co-ordination of actions — a more complete life.”* Even
those, however, who are dissatisfied with the reasoning of
Mr. Darwin, who believe that neither our mental and material
organisation are susceptible of any considerable change, may
still look forward to the future with hope. The tendency of
recent improvements and discoveries is less to effect any
rapid change in man himself, than to bring him into har-
mony with nature ; less to confer upon him new powers,
than to teach him how to apply the old.
It will, I think, be admitted that of the evils under which
we suffer nearly all may be attributed to ignorance or sin.
That ignorance will be diminished by the progress of science
is of course self-evident, that the same will be the case with
sin, seems little less so. Thus, then, both theory and ex-
perience point to the same conclusion. The future happiness
of our race, which poets hardly ventured to hope for, science
boldly predicts. Utopia, which we have long looked upon as
synonymous with an evident impossibility, which we have
* Herbert Spencer. A Theory of Population deduced from the General Law
of Animal Fertility, p. 34.
492
THE FUTURE.
ungratefully regarded as “too good to be true,” turns out on
the contrary to be the necessary consequence of natural
laws, and once more we find that tbe simple truth exceeds
the most brilliant flights of the imagination.
Even in our own time we may hope to see some improve-
ment, but the unselfish mind will find its highest gratifica-
tion in the belief that, whatever may be the case with
ourselves, our descendants will understand many things
which are hidden from us now, will better appreciate the
beautiful world in which we live, avoid much of that suffer-
ing to which we are subject, enjoy many blessings of which
we are not yet worthy, and escape many of those temptations
which we deplore, but cannot wholly resist.
493
APPENDIX.
Page 38.
The passage from Avienus is as follows : —
Quae Himilco Pcenus mensibus vix quatuor,
Ut ipse semet re probasse retulit
Enavigantem, posse transmitti adserit :
Sic nulla late Habra propcllunt ratem,
Sic segnis humor aequoris pigri stupet.
Adjicit et illud, plurimum inter gurgites
Extare fucum, ct saepe virgulti vice
Eetincre puppim dicit hie nihilominus
Non in profundum terga demitti maris,
Parvoque aquarum vix supertexi solum :
Obire semper hue et hue ponti feras,
N avigia lenta et languide repentia
Intematare beiluas.
Page 50.
Staigue Port, in the County of Kerry, is “an enclosure, nearly
circular, 114 feet in diameter from out to out, and in the clear
88 feet from east to west, and 87 from north to south. The stones
are put together without any description of mortar or cement ; the
wall is 13 feet thick at the bottom, and 5 feet 2 inches broad at top
at the highest part, where some of the old coping stones still remain,
and which is there 1 7 feet 6 inches high upon the inside. It has
one square doorway in the S.S.W. side, 5 feet 9 inches high, with
sloping sides, 4 feet 2 inches wide at top, and 5 feet at bottom. In
the substance of this massive wall, and opening inwards, are two
small chambers; the one on the west side is 12 feet long, 4 feet
494
APPENDIX.
7 inches wide, and 6 feet 6 inches high ; the northern chamber is
7 feet 4 inches long, 4 feet 9 inches wide, and 7 feet high. They
formed a part of the original plan, and were not, like other apertures
in some similar structures, filled-up gateways. Around the interior
of the wall are arranged ten sets of stairs, .... the highest reaching
very nearly to the full height of the wall, and the secondary flights
being about half that much ; each step is 2 feet wide ; and the
lower flights project within the circle of the higher. They lead to
narrow platforms, from 8 to 43 feet in length, on which its wardens
or defenders stood.” (Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 120.)
Page 489.
Degree of instruction of persons committed to the different County,
Borough, and Liberty Prisons in England and Wales.
Judicial Statistics — 1863.
Neither read nor write
Males.
... 31,717
Females.
13,492 ]
| 123,818
Read or write and read imperfectly
... 58,447
20,162 J
Read and write well
... 4,027
5541
\ 4,829
Superior Instruction
226
22 J
Instruction not ascertained
623
257
880
Total
34,487
129,527
INDEX
Aarhuus, coastfind at, 81.
Abbeville, marine shells found at, 310.
,, Prestwich on deposits at, 286.
„ researches at, by various
authors, 268.
Abury, 50, 53.
Acheul, St., burials at, 288.
„ mammalian remains found
at, 289.
„ mollusca found at, 289.
„ section at, 303.
„ strata at, 287.
Adzes of New Zealanders, 73.
Africa, pounded bones eaten by savage
tribes of, 248.
African elephant, bones of, from cave
near Madrid, 262.
Agricultural implements of Feegeeans,
358.
Agriculture of North American Indians,
233, 422.
Alca impennis, bones of, in shell-
mounds, 181.
Algeria, stone monuments in, 59.
Algonquin language, absence of cer-
tain words in, 4 1 7.
Amber found in lake-habitations, 134.
American mound builders, 228.
,, mounds, skulls from, 228.
„ mounds, etc., classification of,
200.
„ remains, four periods indi-
cated by, 234.
Ancient remains, preservation of, 55,
note.
Andaman Islanders, 345.
„ „ huts of, 345.
,, ,, implements of, 345.
„ ,, manners and cus-
toms of, 345.
„ no idea of Deity,
346.
Anholt, coastfind at, 80.
Animals, bones of, more abundant than
those of man, 282.
Animals, excavations in form of, 224.
Animal mounds, 222.
„ „ authorities on, 222.
,, „ ignorance of Indians
concerning, 225.
„ ,, no remains in, 225.
Antilope Sai'go of Pallas, 256.
Antiquity of man, 268, 311.
„ „ Bunsen on, 314.
„ „ questions at issue,
276.
Arbor Low, pottery from, 113.
Archoeolithic period, 60.
Arrow-heads, classification of, 77.
,, of North American In-
dians, 419.
An-coy, association of in Tahiti, 388.
Art, knowledge of, by North American
Indians, 4 24.
Ass, the, 145.
Aube valley, geological formation of, 290
Aurelius Ambrosius, 50.
Aurignac, cave at, 262.
„ mammalianremainsfromcave
at, 263.
Aurochs, distribution of, 150, 242.
,, mentioned by Pliny and Se-
neca, 242.
„ mentioned in Niebelungen Lied,
150, 242.
,, remainsof in Norwich Crag, 242
,, remains of in Switzerland, 242.
,, still living in Lithuania, 242.
„ „ Western Asia, 24 2.
Austen Godwin, on Kent’s Hole, 258.
Australian funeral, 353.
Australians, food of, 347.
„ habitations of, 346.
„ implements of, 349.
„ ignorance of religion by,
353.
„ limited knowledge of num-
bers by, 354, 467.
,, method of obtaining fire
by, 353.
496
INDEX.
Australians, nothabitually cannibals, 354
„ ornaments of, 348.
,, polygamy, notions of, 353.
„ pounded bones used by as
food, 347.
„ sliell-mounds of, 346.
„ use of boomerang by, 351.
Ava, intoxicating drink of Tahiti, 381.
Avienus “ora maritima,” 37, 493.
Azara, Don Felix de, Indians of Para-
guay, 425.
Aztalan, ruins of, 211.
B.
Baal worship in Norway, 47.
Baillon, rhinoceros bones found at
Menchecourt, 284.
Bark cloth, manufacture of in Tahiti, 375
Barrows, desiderata concerning con-
tents, 116.
„ of Stone and Bronze age
distinctions, 99.
Bateman, association of stone and
bronze implements in tu-
muli, 62, 100.
„ design of British tumuli, 91.
,, drinking cups from British
tumuli, 113.
„ pottery, arrangement of, from
British tumuli, 111.
„ primary interments, table of,
94.
„ rude flint implements in tu-
muli, 196.
,, Suttee and infanticide in
pagan Britain, 115.
Bear, the, extermination of, 151.
Belcher, Sir E., flint implements, manu-
facture of, by Esquimaux, 79.
Birch, cups found in ancient British
tumuli, probably used for lamps, 112.
Birds, remains of, found in Swiss pile-
dwellings, 144.
„ „ in shell-mounds, 181.
Blackwood’s Magazine, October, 1860,
cited, 276, 288.
“ Blancfond,” 130, 138.
Boar, distinct species of, in pile-dwel-
lings, 145
Bolas, 404, 426, 430, 451.
„ use of by Esquimaux, 404.
„ ,, Paraguay Indians, 426.
„ „ Patagonians, 430.
Bone caves, nature of evidence derived
from, 244.
„ implements, 79.
„ „ in caves of the Dor-
dogne, 253.
Bone implements of lake-dwellers, 135.
„ pits in North America, 216.
„ sculptured in caves, 254.
Bones broken and eaten by some savage
tribes, 248.
„ of mammalia in river-drift gra-
vels, 283.
„ parts of, absent in shell-mounds,
183.
Boomerang, 351.
Boucher de Perthes, deposits in valley
of Somme, 306.
„ researches at Ab-
beville, 268.
„ upper-level gravels,
300.
Bourneville enclosure, Ohio, 207.
Boye, M., contents of tumulus on
island of Moen, 104.
Brachycephalic skulls from American
mounds, 228.
„ ,, in Stone age,
116.
Brass mentioned in Scripture, 44.
Brazilian tribes, curious funeral cus-
tom of, 455.
Bread found in pile-dwellings, 154.
Brixham Cave, 259.
„ „ deposits in, 259.
Brigzes, shell-mound at, 177.
Bridlington, flint finds at, 82.
Bronze abundant amongst Eastern na-
tions, 44.
Bronze age, 3.
„ „ architecture of, unknown,
49.
burial places, 99.
burials of, 100.
dress of, 26.
Dr. Keller on, 31.
in Denmark, 99.
lake-habitations of, 157.
linen fabric in English
tumuli of, 26.
methods of'scpulture, 30.
Nilsson on, 36.
„ ornamentation
of, 48.
personal ornaments of, 21.
Sir W. E. Wilde on, 31.
„ stone implements used in,
100.
„ theories of, 31.
„ tumulus of Treenhoi, 26.
articles and coins found at Tiefe-
nau, 7.
„ ornamentation of, 25.
fish-hooks in different museums,
19.
» >)
>) 5)
>> ))
>>
>>
>>
)>
))
>>
>>
»
))
))
))
>>
INDEX.
497
»
Bronze implements, character of in dif-
ferent countries,
33.
in Dublin Museum, 32
lake -habitations, 157.
Dr. Keller’s list, 158.
never associated with
remains of Irish
elk, 240.
,, not of Boman origin,
34.
,, various, 17, 19, 23.
knives rare in Ireland, 19.
period, pottery of, 160.
Brougham, Lord, advantages and plea-
sures of science cited, 489.
Buddhist architecture in India, 56.
Buffalo used in hunting, 340, 344.
Bunsen, antiquity of the human race,
314.
Burchell, travels in Southern Africa,
cited, 384, note.
>>
>>
Burial
customs of Andaman Islanders,
346.
yy
yy
Australians, 353.
Esquimaux, 409.
yy
yy
yy
yy
Feegeeans, 360.
Fuegians, 437.
yy
yy
>>
yy
New Zealanders, 368
yy
yy
North American In-
dians, 87, 424.
yy
yy
Patagonians, 431.
yy
yy
Tahitians, 384.
V
yy
different methods of, 455.
,, mounds of Esquimaux, 409.
Burials at St. Acheul, 287.
„ difficulty of defining epoch
from, 100.
in Bronze age, 99.
in old tumuli, 110.
near Stonehenge, character of,
102.
,, regulation of Charlemagne con-
cerning, 111, note.
Burning the dead, Australian custom
of, 354.
Bushmen, 343.
„ Burchell on mental condition
of, 465.
Busk on Neanderthal skull, 332.
„ on Gibraltar caves, 262.
C.
Cairn in Kirkcudbrightshire, 69.
Cannibalism of Australians, 354.
Feegeeans, 362.
Fuegians, 437.
New Zealanders, 370.
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
Canoes of Andaman Islanders, 345.
„ Australians, 348.
Feegeeans, 357.
Fuegians, 437.
New Zealanders, 368.
„ Tahitians, 378.
Carthage, foundation of, 43.
Cave bear, geographical distribution of,
237.
„ ,, remains of in valley of
Somme, 238.
„ evidence, value of, 244.
Caves of the Dordogne, flint implements
found in, 248.
„ „ no pottery in,
254.
„ „ no remains of
domestic ani-
mals, 247.
Cave hyaena, 238.
„ mammalia, palaeontological chro-
nology from, 243.
„ men, 237.
„ „ change of climate since pe-
riod of, 255.
„ „ civilisation of, 255.
„ „ skulls of, rare, 266.
„ tiger, 238.
Caves in Sicily, 260.
Caesar, reference to elk by, 150.
„ „ reindeer by, 242.
„ „ urus by, 150, 243.
Cereals found in pile dwellings, 153.
Celts, 68.
forms of, 13, 68, 131.
mode of fixing, 69.
not the earliest colonisers of
Northern Europe, 116.
,, weapons of war, 69.
Ceylon, wild tribes of interior, 343.
Chambered tumuli, 88.
,, „ of Great Britain, 90.
Charlemagne, regulation of with respect
to burials, 111, note.
Chillingham, wild cattle of, 243.
Chisels, flint, 74.
Christy and Feraud, cromlechs, etc., in
Algeria, 59.
Christy and Lartet on caves in the
Dordogne, 245.
Circleville, earthworks near, 211.
Civilisation, advantages of, 486.
„ different stages of in Stone
age, 445.
Clark’s work, Ohio, 208.
Climate of Europe during period of
river deposits, 294.
„ mammalian remains indica-
tions of, 294.
yy
yy
yy
32
498
INDEX.
Coastfinds, 80.
„ implements from, 81.
Commerce of pile dwellers, evidence of,
158.
Cook, Captain, habits of Sandwich
Islanders, 382.
Copenhagen, stone implements in mu-
seum of, 60.
Copper age in North America, 201.
„ „ no evidence of in Ireland, 32.
„ mining operations near Lake
Superior, 202.
„ use of by North American In-
dians, 4, 201, 418.
Cornhills, Indian, 230.
Corpse, disposal of in Bronze age, 100.
„ „ Neolithic Stone
age, 103.
„ „ Stone age, 100.
Cornwall, shell-mounds of, 178.
Cradle-board, use of by North American
Indians, 414.
Cranoges of Ireland, 120.
Crantz, burial customs of Esquimaux,
409.
,, description of an Esquimaux
feast, 398.
„ ignorance of Esquimaux of re-
ligion, 409.
Crawfurd, limited knowledge of num-
bers amongst Australian tribes, 467.
Cremation, 100, 103.
Criminals, ignorance of, 488.
Crofts, hardening of copper implements,
204.
Cromlech, 59, 85.
,, erection of at the present day
in India, 58.
Crustacea found in shell-mounds, 180.
Curious customs, 455.
Cyrena fluminalis, 306.
D.
Daggers of flint, 75.
Dampier, absence of huts amongst
Australians of north-west coast, 346.
Dana, use of copper by North American
Indians, 202.
Danish Celts, forms of, 68.
„ museums, stone implements in,
60.
„ shell-mounds, 171.
D’Archiac, deposits in river- valleys of
France, 290.
Darwin, habits and customs of Ticrra
del Fuegians, 189.
Dawkins, B., peculiar flints from Wo-
key Hole, 251.
Dawkins, B., Wokey Hole explored
by, 265.
Defensive enclosures in North America,
207.
Degradation of human species, no evi-
dence of, amongst savage tribes, 337.
Deification of white men by savages,
459.
Deity, belief in, by Andaman Islanders,
346.
„ „ Feegeeans, 357.
„ „ Fuegians, 437.
„ „ New Zealanders,
370.
„ „ • North American In-
dians, 416.
„ „ Tahitians, 386.
Denmark, numerous tumuli in, 171.
„ vegetation of, 315.
Denudation, river-gravels a proof of,
301.
Desnoyers, M., on bone-caves, 244.
„ marks on bones from
upper pliocene beds,
332.
Desor, piles of Stone and Bronze age,
138.
,, pile-buildings as magazines, 159.
Dickeson, bones of man and mastodon
ohioticus, 235.
Difficulties of river-action theory, 292.
Dighton Rock, 226.
Dille, tumuli in Missouri examined by,
216.
Diodorus, burial of Semiramis, 86.
Ditch, position of, a distinguishing
character of enclosure, 209.
Dog an article of food, 183, note.
„ uses of by savage tribes, 452.
,, use of in war, Pliny, 453.
Dogs, bones in Kjokkcnmoddings pro-
bably gnawed by, 183.
„ of Fuegians used in fishing, 435.
„ uses of among the Esquimaux,
405.
Domestic animals of Tahiti, 379.
Donnas, northernmost point of voyage
of Pythias, 42.
D’Orbigny on quaternary deposits, 300.
Dordogne, caves in valleys of, 245.
„ character of strata in the,
245.
Douler, human remains from New Or-
leans, 236.
Dove, Rev. T., moral inferiority of
Tasmanians, 465.
Drawing practised by Esquimaux, 408.
Dress, absence of, amongst Audaman
Islanders, 345.
INDEX.
499
Dress of Australians, 348.
Esquimaux, 407.
Feegeeans, 359, 438.
New Zealanders, 366.
North American Indians, 413.
Patagonians, 429.
Tahitians, 376.
Veddahs, 344.
Drift - gravels, mammalian remains
found in, 283.
„ peculiarities of imple-
ments from, 279.
„ period, ethnology of, 329.
Dublin Museum, mineralogical cha-
racter of stone implements in, 63.
D’Urville, cremation by Australians,
354.
„ dress, notions of, by Aus-
tralians, 348.
„ cannibalism of M aories, 371
,, method of obtaining tire by
Australians, 353.
Earth’s axis, alteration of, 298.
Earthworks in North America, 207.
Easter Island, statues in, 444.
Egypt, Horner's researches in, 320.
Elephas antiquus, 289.
Elk, the, 150.
Ellis, inhabitants of Tahiti, 390.
„ Polynesian researches cited, 337,
372.
Engelhardt, researches in peat bogs of
Slesvick, 8.
Engis skull, cotemporaneous with the
mammoth, 332.
,, Huxley on, 330.
Erskine, Capt., gods of the Feegeeans,
357.
Esquimaux, 392.
boats of, 405.
burial customs of, 409.
,, of infants with mo-
ther, 116, 409.
belief in a future state by,
409.
character of, 410.
clothing of, 407.
derivation of name, 396.
flint implements of, 71,
402, 406.
food of, 397.
games of, 408.
geographical distribution
of, 392.
habitations of, 392.
ignorance of numbers, 410.
)>
1>
Esquimaux, implements used by, 401.
„ knowledge of music and
drawing, 408.
„ language, 392.
,, marital customs of, 412.
„ manufacture of flint im-
plements by, 79.
„ meals, description of, 397.
„ method of catching fish,
404.
„ „ killing seals,
403.
,, „ obtaining fire,
400.
„ no notions of religion, 409.
„ of Baffin’s Bay, ignorant
of boats, 406.
„ ornaments of, 408.
„ simple pottery manufac-
tured by, 394.
„ sledges used by, 405.
„ snow huts of, 394.
„ stone implements used by,
406.
„ tattooing practised by, 408
Estavayer, bronze implements from, 19.
Ethnology of Drift period, 329.
Evans on flint implements from Hoxne,
271.
„ ,, in the drift, 269.
„ visit to St. Yalery, 178.
Extinct mammalia associated with man
in Europe, 237.
F.
Fabrics of Bronze age, 27.
„ Stone age, 137.
Falconer, on cave at Brixham, 259.
,, on Felis of Northern China,
238.
,, on Stonesfield fossils, 184.
„ researches by in grotto of
Maccagnone, in Sicily, 260.
Fauna and flora of river-drift gravels an
indication of the climate of
the period, 294.
„ of Swiss Lake-dwellings, 140.
„ of Swiss Lake-dwellings, general
character of, 151.
Feegee Islanders, 355.
„ „ agricultural imple-
ments of, 358,
,, „ belief in a future
state, 361.
„ „ burials of, 360.
„ „ cannibalism of, 362.
,, „ canoes of, 357.
,, „ clothing of, 359.
500
INDEX.
>>
77
Feegee Islanders, food of, 356.
„ „ fortifications of, 356.
„ „ funeral customs of,
115.
„ „ games of, 358.
„ ,, houses of, 356.
„ „ human sacrifices by,
362.
„ „ language of, 355.
„ „ offerings to their
gods, 363.
„ „ parricide custom of,
360.
,, „ religion of, 357.
„ „ tattooing practised
by, 360.
,, temples of, 357.
,, tools used by, 358.
„ treatment of women
by, 359.
„ „ weapons used by, 356.
Feelings and ceremonial customs dif-
ferently expressed by different races,
457.
Felis tigris of Northern China possibly
a descendant of F. speloea, 238.
Fergusson, on Abury and Stonehenge, 53.
„ on Buddhist architecture in
India. 56.
Festivals of the dead, 216.
Fire, different methods of obtaining by
savages, 453.
„ method of obtaining by Australi-
ans, 353.
„ method of obtaining by Esqui-
maux, 400.
„ method of obtaining by North
American Indians, 421.
„ method of obtaining by Tahitians,
380.
„ use of by Fuegians, 438.
Fish -hooks used in Tahiti, 374.
„ remains of in shell-mounds, 181.
Flint arrow-heads, 77.
„ awls, 75.
„ axes, 72.
„ „ Steenstrup on, 72.
„ chisels, 74.
„ daggers, 75.
„ finds, 80.
„ „ in England, 82.
„ flakes, 65.
„ „ work of man, 67.
„ fracture of, 64.
„ implements cotemporaneous with
beds in which they
are found, 278.
>t ,i distinct use for each
form, 442.
77
77
77
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
Flint implements, forged, characters of,
277.
„ „ from caves in the
Dordogne, 248.
,, „ from Gray’s Inn Lane
in British Museum,
271.
from Godaiming, 272.
from Heme Bay, 274.
from Hoxne, 271.
from Kent’s Hole,
258.
„ „ from lake-dwellings,
131.
,, „ from shell - mounds,
193.
„ „ from various locali-
ties, 274.
„ „ manufacture of by
Esquimaux, 79.
„ „ manufacture of by
Mexicans, 78.
,, „ of human manufac-
ture, 276.
„ „ uses of, 280.
„ scrapers, 70.
„ spear -heads, 75.
Flints from Perigueux, 253.
„ perforated, 70, 200.
Flora of Pile-dwellings, 153.
Food, Esquimaux method of cooking,
396.
„ method of cooking in Tahiti, 380.
of Australians, 347.
Esquimaux, 397.
Fcegeeans, 356.
Fuegians, 434.
New Zealanders, 365.
North American Indians, 423.
Patagonians, 430.
Tahitians, 380.
stored by Esquimaux, 395.
Forest growths in North America, 232.
Fox, the, eaten by Esquimaux, 141.
,, remains of in Pile works of the
Stone age, 141.
Franks, character of jewellery in Etrus-
can tombs, 98.
„ supposed Phoenician antiquities
in America, 46.
FrerCjflintimplemcntsfrom Iloxne, 271.
Friendly and Sandwich islands, inhabi-
tants of, 390.
Froelund, flint finds at, 81.
Fuegians, the, 189, 432.
„ absence of religion amongst,
437.
cannibalism of, 437.
canoes of, 437.
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
yy
INDEX.
501
>>
>y
v
jy
5)
Fuegians, dogs used in hunting and
fishing by, 435.
dress of, 438.
food of, 434.
fortified towns of, 356.
ignorance of pottery, 438.
shell-mounds of, 189.
use of fire by, 438.
Funeral customs indicated by remains
in ancient tumuli,
115.
„ „ of Andaman Islauders,
346.
Australians, 354.
Esquimaux, 409.
Feegceans, 115,361.
Fuegians, 437.
New Zealanders,
369.
North American In-
dians, 424.
Patagonians, 431.
Tahitians, 385.
Future, the, 491.
„ state, belief in by ancient Bri-
tons, 92, 98.
„ „ belief in by Esquimaux,
409.
„ „ belief in by Feegee
Islanders, 361.
belief in by Maories, 370.
belief in by North Ameri-
can Indians, 416.
belief in by Tahitians,
386.
>1
>1
>>
»
>1
>1
>1
>1
V
a.
Gades, foundation of, 43.
Galton, pounded bones eaten by African
tribes, 248.
Games of Esquimaux, 408.
„ „ Feegeeaus, 358.
Ganggraben, 88.
„ Nilsson on, 89.
Garcilego de la Vega, History of Flo-
rida cited, 221.
Garden beds, ancient North American
Indian, 230.
„ „ Lapham od, 230, 233.
Gauls, dwellings of, 1 25.
Geminus, voyages of Pytheas, 42.
Gibraltar, caves at, 262.
Giraldus Cambrensis on stoneworks in
Ireland, 50.
Gillieron, deposits at Pont de Thiele, 3 1 9 .
Glacial epoch, duration of, 325.
Glass, holes drilled in with stone tools,
253.
Godaiming, flint implements from, 272.
Goldhavn, tumulus at, 88.
Gold ornaments from Ireland, 23.
Grave Creek mound, 216, 220, 226.
,, ,, ,, inscribed stone
from, 226.
„ ,, ,, inscribed stone
from, doubtful
character of,
227.
Gravel of valley of the Somme, 290.
Grey, Capt., habits of Australians, 347.
Gulf stream, alteration of course of,
298.
H.
Habitations of Andaman Islanders, 345.
,, Australians, 346.
„ Esquimaux, 392.
„ Feegee Islanders, 356.
„ Fuegians, 432.
„ Hottentots, 339.
„ Maories, 367.
,, North American Indians,
421.
„ Patagonians, 428.
„ Tahitians, 377.
Happiness in relation to numbers of
population, 482.
Hare, prejudice against eating, by
different races, 143.
,, scarcity of remains of, in pile-
dwellings, 143.
Harpoon used by Esquimaux, 403.
„ „ Fuegians, 436.
Harrison on forest growth, 232.
Haughton, Rev. S., mineralogieal cha-
racter of stone implements in Dublin
Museum, 63.
Haven, North American remains, 199.
Hazlewood, gods of Feegee Islanders,
357.
Head- moulding practised by North
American Indians, 414.
Herberstein, urus in Germany, 243.
Herne bay, flint implements from, 274.
Herodotus, pile-dwellings of Poeonians,
120, 129.
Hesiod, nations on eastern shores of
Mediterranean, 44.
Ilimilco, voyages of, 37.
Hippopotamus major, bones of, in drift,
305.
Hoare, Sir R. C., barrows about Stone-
henge, 52,
„ burials in Wiltshire,
92, 101.
,, incense cups, 112.
502
INDEX.
Hog of ancient Europe, Steenstrup on,
182.
Homer, nations on tlie eastern shores
of the Mediterranean, 44.
Hopkins, climate of river-drift period,
296.
„ on the Gulf stream, 298.
Horner, researches in Egypt, 320.
„ ,, deposits of the
Nile, 321.
Horse, remains of, in pile works, 145.
,, „ tumuli, 114.
Hottentots, the, 338.
,, domestic animals of, 340.
„ „ special uses
of, 340.
„ dress, 339.
,, exposure of sick and aged
by, 342.
„ houses of, 339.
„ implements and cookery,
339.
„ metallurgy of, 341.
,, methods of killing game, 340
„ religion of, 341.
„ use of oxen by, to guard
flocks, 340.
„ use of oxen in war, 340.
Houses of Mandans, 216.
Hoxne, flint implements from, 271.
Human hones absent in drift-beds, 281.
„ „ scarcity of, in pileworks,
156.
„ race, unity of, 476.
„ „ change of type in, 477.
„ sacrifices by Feegeeans, 362.
Hunting buffaloes, 340, 344.
Huxley on Engis skull, 330.
„ Neanderthal skull, 330.
I.
Ibex, 150.
Ice, action on river-drift gravels, 294.
Implements found at Wauwvl, 133.
„ from drift, peculiarities of,
279.
„ „ and later Stone
age, compa-
rison of, 280.
„ of North American In-
dians, 200, 419.
,, Lake-dwellers, 131.
,) stone, Australian, 350.
n wood in North Ame-
rican copper mines,
204.
» similarity of those used by
savage tribes, 451.
» used by Esquimaux, 401.
Implements used by modern savages,
comparison of, 447.
Incense cups, 112.
Indians of the Amazons, burial custom
of, 89.
„ festivals of the dead, 216.
„ of southern America, 214.
Indian tribes, none since 16th century
able to construct extensive earth-
works, 229.
Infants, burial of with mother, 116.
„ burial of with mother by Es-
quimaux tribes, 116, 409.
Infanticide practised by Feegeans, 362.
,, ,, "Hottentots, 342.
„ ,, North American
Indians, 418.
„ „ Paraguay In-
dians, 427.
„ „ Tahitians, 389.
Inscriptions, North American, 226.
Interments, distinction between those
of Stone and Bronze age,
99.
,, pre-historic, 90.
„ primary, Bateman’s table
of, 94.
„ secondary, 93.
„ statistical tables, 101.
Ireland, crannogcs of, 120.
Irish elk, 239.
„ contemporary with man, 240.
„ no mention of by Caesar or
Tacitus, 240.
„ no remains of, associated with
bronze implements, 240.
„ no remains of in Neolithic
age, 240.
Iron age, 3.
,, decline of pile-habitations in,
169.
„ pile-habitations of, 168.
Iron and bronze, knowledge of by
ancients, 6.
„ implements found, at Tiefenau,
4, 7.
„ from peat-bogs of
Slesvick, 8.
„ introduction of, into Europe, 7.
,, method of smelting, by Hotten-
tots, 341.
„ unknown in America at the time
of its discovery, 201.
Iroquois, remains of, in state of New
York, 199.
J-
Jamieson, T. F., flint- finds on the
banks of the Ythan, 82.
INDEX,
503
Jeffreys, J. G., mollusca in drift at St.
Acheul, 289.
Joinville, section at, 293.
Judicial statistics, 1863, cited, 488, 494.
K.
Kajak, 405.
Keller, Dr., bronze implements in lake-
dwellings, table of, 158.
„ inhabitants of pile-dwel-
lings, 162.
„ on lake-dwellings, 123, 127.
,, on moon worship, 168.
„ researches at Meilen, 119.
Kent’s Hole, 258.
King, decorations of Australians, 348.
Kirkcudbrightshire, cairn in, 69.
Kissing unknown to some savages, 457.
Kivik, ornamented monument at, 47.
Kjokkenmoddings, 171.
,, flint implements
found in, 185.
„ high antiquity of,
196.
„ missing bones in,
183.
„ mutilated bones in,
183.
„ no trace of grain in,
179.
„ relation of to tu-
muli, 191.
,, works of art from,
187.
Koch, mastodon found in Missouri,
killed by man, 234.
Kolben, Hottentots, 338, 342.
Korsoer, coast-find at, 80.
Kumbecephalic skulls, 90, 116.
Kystfunden, 80.
Ladrone islanders, houses of, 444.
Lake-habitations, abandonment of, 168.
at Wauwyl, 129.
comparison of bones
belonging to wild
and domestic ani-
mals, 146.
construction of, 128.
erected by existing
savage tribes, 122.
fauna of, 140, 144.
fauna of, general cha-
racter of, 151.
flora of, 153.
found in Switzerland,
119, 123.
»
j>
)»
n
ft
tf
ff
ff
ff
Lake-habitations found in Switzerland,
authorities, 122.
indications of pro-
gress, 162.
objects found in diffe-
rent dwellings, 163.
objects found in diffe-
rent dwellings, ta-
ble of, 164.
of Bronze age, 157.
of Bronze and Stone
age, comparison of
objects from, 163.
remains of boar in, 145.
remains of horse in,
145.
remains of sus scrofa
palustris in, 145.
mutilated bones in,
140.
scarcity of human
bones in, 156.
weapons and imple-
ments from, 131.
Lake worship, 159.
Lakes, sacred, 159.
,, ,, classic authorities, 160.
Lake Superior, copper mining near, by
aborigines, 202.
Land, elevation of on coasts of England
and France, 310.
Language a test of mental condition, 465.
„ of savage tribes, 417, 427,
457, 465.
„ of savage tribes, absence of
terms of endearment, 417,
466.
„ of savage tribes, absence of
words, 387.
„ of Feegee Islanders, 355.
Lapham on animal mounds, 222.
early cultivation, 230.
forests of Wisconsin, 229.
garden beds in America, 233.
„ ruins of Aztalan, 211.
Lartet and Christy, caves in the Dor-
dogne, 245.
„ „ peculiarity of flints
fromLe Mousticr,
251.
„ „ four divisions of the
primitive human
period, 243.
„ „ mammoth in Sibe-
ria, 239.
„ „ sketches and sculp-
ture on bone and
stone from caves,
254.
ff
ff
504
INDEX.
Lartet, bone implements from caves of
the Dordogne, 253.
,, bones of rhinoceros marked by
flint implements, 284.
„ cave at Aurignac, 262.
,, cave-bear near Abbeville, 238.
Lastic, M., sculpture from cave at Bru-
niquel, 254.
Laugerie, sculptures from, 254.
Law, absence of in Tahiti, 387.
Lead, used by North American Indians,
201.
L’Echelle, bones of reindeer from cave
at, 241.
Le Moustier, peculiar character of flint
from, 251.
Lewis, Sir G. C., Phoenician sources of
tin, 36.
„ voyages of Himilco, 37.
„ voyages of Pytheas, 39.
Liege, caves near, 257.
Lions of Thessaly, 238.
Lipari islands, 39, 40.
Loess and gravel, relations of, 309.
Lohle, on pile-habitations at Wangen,
129.
Lyell, Sir C., age of delta of the Missis-
sippi, 324.
„ association of bones of
man and mastodon, 235.
,, duration of glacial epoch,
325.
„ indications of ice action in
river deposits, 294. .
„ Nile deposits, 322.
„ on long periods of time,
329.
,, remains of man in pliocene
„ strata, possible, 333.
Lyon, Capt., fox eaten by Esquimaux,
141.
„ on young ice, 41.
M.
Maccagnone, grotto of, 260.
Mammalia, causes of extinction, 328.
,, domesticated during Stone
age, 114.
„ extinct since tbe advent of
man, 237.
„ remains of, found at St.
Acheul, 289.
„ remains of, found in cave at
Brixham, 259.
,, remains of, found in cave at
Aurignac, 263.
» remains of, found in caves
of the Dordogne, 246.
Mammalia, remains of, found in shell-
mounds, 180.
„ remains of, from Kent’s
Hole, 258.
„ remains of, from lower-level
gravels, 305.
„ remains of, from river-drift
gravels, 283.
„ of river-drift gravels co-
temporaneous with de-
posits, 284.
Mammoth, geographical range of, 239.
,, no remains of, in Kjokken-
moddings, 239.
„ no traditions of, in Europe,
239.
Man and reindeer, relative proportion
of, in Lapland, 282.
„ bones of, absent in drift strata,
281.
„ ,, associated with mas-
todon, 235.
„ „ rare in pile-dwellings,
281.
„ migration of, 476.
,, power of controlling force of na-
tural selection, 481.
„ primitive arts of, 473.
„ probably representatives of, in
miocene strata, 334.
„ scarcity of bones of, reasons why,
281.
„ works of, associated with bones
of mastodon, 234.
Manatee, figures of, on North American
pottery, 206.
Mandans, huts of, 216.
Maories, 365.
„ burial customs of, 368.
„ cannibalism of, 370.
„ canoes of, 368.
„ character of, 369.
„ dress of, 366.
„ food of, 365.
„ fortified villages of, 367.
,, houses of, 367.
„ musical instruments of, 369.
„ superstitions of, 369.
,, treatment of women by, 369.
,, weapons of, 368.
“ Mare di Sargasso,” 38.
Marine shells at Abbeville, 310.
Marseilles, foundation of, 43.
Mastodon ohioticus, 235.
Mather, W. W., implements from
ancient copper mines of North Ame-
rica, 204.
Mauls, or stone hammers, 203.
Maurice, stone monuments in India, 56
INDEX.
505
Meals, solitary in Tahiti, 283.
Measurement, standard of, known to
earthwork-builders of North Ame-
rica, 210.
Megaceros hibernicus, geographical
range of, 239.
Meilgaard, shell-mound at, 175.
Menchecourt, gravel pits at, 304.
Mental condition, language a test of,
465.
„ ,, of savage tribes,
462, 475.
Merry on the use of the boomerang,
352.
Metal, knowledge of in Europe, Asia,
and Africa, 338.
Mexican paintings, 201.
„ simultaneous use of metal and
stone implements by, 62.
Migration of man, 476.
Minatarees, huts of, 216.
Mincopies, 345.
Mississippi valley, date of monuments
in, 231.
,, „ delta of, 324.
Missouri, mastodon found killed by
human agency in, 234.
Mistletoe, reference by Pliny to, 168.
Moa, egg of, in Maori grave, 369.
Modern savages, 335.
,, „ comparative table of
implements, etc.,
used by, 447.
„ „ different degrees of
civilisation amongst,
445.
Mollusca found at St. Acheul, 289.
„ of drift gravels, 305.
„ „ „ evidence of
Arctic cli-
mate, 294.
Moon worship, 168.
Morai or burial place in Tahiti, 385.
Moral inferiority of savages, 465.
Morges, bronze implements from, 19.
Morlot, chronological indications of the
cone of the Tiniere, 318.
„ cone de la Tinibre, 316, 323.
„ Phoenicians, traces of in Ame-
rica, 46.
,, on chronological calculations
from deposits, 328.
Mouatt, Andaman Islanders, 345.
Mound-builders of America, 228.
of America, standard
of measurement
known to, 210.
Mound burial, 86.
• historical references, 86.
Mound burial, Scripture references, 86.
Music of Esquimaux, 408.
Musical instruments of Maories, 369.
„ „ Tahitians, 378.
Mutilated bones in pile-dwellings, 140.
„ „ shell-mounds, 183.
Myodes torquatus, 305.
N.
Natchez Indians, dwellings of, 221.
Natural selection, applied to the human
race, 478.
„ „ force of, influenced
by man, 481.
Neanderthal skull, 330.
Negrito, 355.
Neolithic period, 3, 60.
Nephrite, implements in lake-habita-
tions formed of, 134.
Newark, North America, earthworks
near, 210.
New York, State of, ancient monu-
ments in, 199.
New Zealand, quadrupeds in, 366.
New Zealanders. See Maories.
Nidau, bronze implements from, 19.
„ metal objects from, 4.
Niebelungen Lied, aurochs mentioned
in, 150, 242.
„ supposed allusion
to Irish elk, 240.
,, urus mentioned in,
243.
Nigaard glacier, the, 315.
Nile valley, 320.
„ Horner’s researches, 321.
,, probable age of deposits,
321.
„ Sir C. Lyell on, 322.
Nilsson, on Baal worship in Norway, 47.
„ Bronze age, 36.
„ ornamentation of Bronze
age, 48.
„ passage graves, 89.
„ Phoenicians in Norway, 46.
,, Semitic character of Bronze
age ornamentation, 48.
„ voyages of Pytheas, 43.
„ young ice, 41.
North America, ancient pottery of, 204.
,, American archaeology, 198.
„ „ „ authorities,
198,
„ „ Indians, 412.
„ „ „ agriculture of,
422.
„ ,, „ belief in a future
state by, 416.
506
INDEX.
North American Indians, boats of, 420.
11
11
11
burial customs
of, 424.
11
11
11
characterof,417.
11
11
11
community of
character of
different tribes
412.
ft
1 1
11
dress of, 413.
11
11
11
dwellings of,
421.
11
11
11
food of, 423.
11
11
11
geographical
distribution
of, 412.
11
11
11
head - moulding
practised by,
414.
11
11
11
implements of,
419.
11
11
11
ornaments of,
413.
11
11
11
rapid disappear-
ance of, 418.
11
11
11
scalping, univer-
sal custom of,
418.
11
11
11
treatment of
womenby,416
11
11
11
use of cradle-
board by, 414.
11
11
river valleys, popula-
tion of, 228.
Norway, Phoenicians in, 46.
„ reindeer in, 241.
N or wich Crag .remains of auroch s in, 2 4 2 .
„ remains of Irish elk in,
240.
Numbers, limited knowledge of by Aus-
tralians, 354.
,, limited knowledge of by Es-
quimaux, 410.
Numeration, defective power of amongst
savage tribes, 466.
0.
Objects buried with the dead, 92.
Oise, valley of, geological formation, 290.
Oldfield, “Aborigines of Australia,”
cited, 348.
„ on the use of boomerang, 352.
Ooloos, a flint implement of Esqui-
maux, 74.
“ Ora maritima,” 37.
Orkney stone circles, modern uses of, 56.
Ornaments found in North American
mounds, 206.
„ of Australians, 348.
Ornaments of Esquimaux, 408.
„ New Zealanders, 367.
,, North American Indians,
413.
Paraguay Indians, 426.
Tahitians, 377.
„ perforated, 444.
Outrigger, use of by Andaman islanders,
345.
,, „ Australians, 349.
„ „ Feegeeans, 357.
„ „ Tahitians, 378.
Owen, Andaman Islanders, 345.
„ cave-bear in pliocene deposits of
Norfolk, 233.
„ reported remains of Irish elk in
peat bogs, 240.
Ox, uses of by savage tribes, 453.
Oxen, races of, in pile-dwellings, 148.
„ teeth of, in tumuli, 115.
»
»
11
P.
11
11
11
»
11
I*
Packwerkbauten, 127.
Palaeolithic period, 2.
„ „ no known interment
of, 98.
Pallas, geographical distribution of rein-
deer, 240.
Paraguay Indians, 425.
food of, 425.
habits of, 426.
houses of, 126.
infanticide, practice
of, 427.
language of, 427.
no agriculture
amongst, 426.
„ no domestic ani-
mals, 426.
„ religious notions of,
427.
Parricide, custom of amongst Feegeeans,
360.
Parry, habits of Esquimaux, 392, 395,
404, 407, 410.
Passage graves, 88.
Patagonians, 427.
bolas used by, 430.
burial customs of, 431.
dress of, 429.
food of, 430.
figantic size of, 428.
uts of, 428.
ignorance of pottery, 429.
religious notions of, 431.
weapons of, 430.
Peat deposits of Somme valley, remains
from, 306.
11
11
H
11
11
11
11
11
11
INDEX.
507
Peck, Capt., North American antiqui-
ties, age of, 232.
Perigucux, stone implements from, 253.
Pfahlbauten, 127.
„ flora of, 153.
„ reference to authors, 123.
Phoenicians, commerce in tin, 36, 46.
„ in America, supposed traces
of, 46.
„ in Norway, 46, 48.
Piets’ houses, 91.
Pile buildings, as magazines, 159.
„ dwellers, commerce of, 158.
„ „ diet of, 155.
lake-worship by, 159.
»>
»
99
dwellings, bread found in, 154.
ti
cereals found in, 153.
character of fauna of, 152
construction of, 128.
fauna of, 140.
flora of, 153, 155.
implements of nephrite
from, 134.
list of remains of birds
from, 144.
population of, 281.
scarcity of human bones
in, 156, 281.
„ „ table of animal remains
from, 143.
„ ,, weapons and imple-
ments found in, 131.
Piles of Stone and Bronze age, com-
parison of, 138.
Pileworks, remains of horse found in,
145.
»
)>
Pipes in North American tumuli, 206.
Plants found in pileworks, list of, 155.
Pliny, the mistletoe mentioned by, 168.
,, dogs used in war, 453.
Pcconians, habitations of, 120.
Polybius, voyage of Pytheas, 39.
Polynesians, 355.
Pont de Thiele, lake-habitation of, 319.
Population, increase of with civilisation,
482.
„ of North American river
valleys, 228.
„ of pile-habitations, 126.
Pottery found in ancient tumuli, Bate-
man’s arrangement of, 111.
„ from tumulus at Miien, 106.
„ „ West Kennet,
109.
„ North American, 204.
,, of Bronze period, 160.
„ of Stone age, 135.
„ of Stone and Bronze age com-
parison of, 166.
Pottery, ornamentation of, 113, 136,
205.
„ simple form of, used by Esqui-
maux, 394.
Potter’s wheel, no evidence of use of
in Stone age, 135.
„ no evidence of use of in
ancient American pot-
tery, 205.
Prehistoric archaeology, epochs of, 2.
,, ,, method of en-
quiry, 336.
,, remains, 83.
„ ,, wide distribution
of, 86.
Prestwich, analogous conditions of river
valleys in France and
England, 291.
„ condition of bones found in
river drift, 284.
,, deposits at Abbeville, 286.
„ difference of level of upper
gravel and loess, 309.
,, flint implements, 277-
,, iceaction on river gravels, 295
,, probable temperature of
river drift period, 295.
,, river deposits, 286.
,, table of mammalian remains
from lower level gravels,
305.
Prichard, insufficiency of popular chro-
nology, 313.
Primary interments, Bateman’s table of
contents of 102, 94.
Primitive condition of man, 473.
Pytheas, voyages of, 39, 42.
,, ,, Geminus on, 42.
R.
Eae, Dr., character of Esquimaux, 410.
Reindeer, 240.
,, Ceesar’s mention of, 242.
„ horns of, with marks of hu-
man implements, 247.
„ horns of, in caves of the
Dordogne, 247, 254.
,, first appearance of in Eu-
rope, 241.
„ in Europe at the present
time, 240, 241.
Religious notions of Andaman I slanders,
346.
„ ,, Australians, 353.
„ ,, Esquimaux, 409.
,, ,, Feegeeans, 357.
„ „ Fuegians, 437.
,, „ Hottentots, 341.
508
INDEX.
JJ
>1
>>
))
)>
V
JJ
Religious notions of Maories, 369.
„ „ North American In-
dians, 416.
„ „ Paraguay Indians,
427.
Patagonians, 431.
Savage tribes, 467.
Tahitians, 386.
Yeddahs, 345.
Rhinoceros, bones of, marked by flint
implements, 284.
,, remains of, found near Ab-
beville, 284.
„ tichorinus, 239.
„ tichorinus, or elephas pri-
migenius, not found in
shell-mounds, 239.
,, tichorinus, or elephas pri-
migenius, no traditions
of in Europe, 239.
„ tichorinus in caves near
Liege, 257.
Ribe, tumuli near, 26.
Richardson on young ice, 41.
River gravels, proof of denudation, 301.
„ „ Prestwich on, 286.
„ „ sandstone blocks in, 292.
Roman period, battle field of Tiefenau,
169.
Ross, Esquimaux of Baffin’s Bay, 406.
Royal Irish Academy, flint implements
in museum of, 61.
Rude flint implements in tumuli and
shell-mounds, 191, 196.
Riitimeyer, comparison of animal re-
mains in different lake-
dwellings by, 166, 167.
„ fauna of Swiss lake-dwell-
ings, 140.
„ races of oxen in Swiss lake-
dwellings, 148.
„ remains of an early species
of boar in pile-dwellings,
145.
„ Sus scrofa palustris, 145,
147.
,, table of animal remains
from lake-dwellings, 143.
S.
Sacred enclosures, 209.
Sacrificial mounds, 217.
„ „ contents of, 218.
„ „ position of altar in,
217.
» ), possibly sepulchral,
219.
Salt, use of by Sandwich Islanders, 381.
Sanchee, stone circle at, 57.
Sandstone, blocks of in river gravels,
292.
Sandwich Islands, inhabitants of, 390.
Savages compared with children, 462.
„ deification of white men by,
459.
,, methods of obtaining fire, 453.
„ mental inferiority of, 465.
,, moral inferiority of, 465.
„ self-inflicted sufferings of, 485.
„ skilfulness of, 440.
„ sufferings of, 484.
„ works of art by, 444.
Savage tribes, absence of religion
amongst, 467.
„ „ belief in witchcraft by,
470.
„ „ deficient in power of
numeration, 466.
„ „ different methods of
burial, 455.
„ „ different habits of, 452.
„ „ different ideas of virtue,
458.
„ „ difference in weapons,
448.
„ „ erection of lake-habita-
tions by, 122.
„ „ habits of, due to external
conditions, 446.
„ ,, independent inventions
by, 451.
,, „ isolation of, 450.
„ „ mental condition of,
462.
„ „ no evidence of degrada-
tion, 337.
„ „ social position of women
in, 460.
„ „ sounds used by, 457.
„ ,, religious conceptions of,
467.
„ „ use of the dog by, 452.
„ „ various articles used by,
447.
Scandinavia, tumuli in, 88.
Scandinavian tumuli, skulls from, 90.
Sckmerling, contemporaneity of man
and extinct animals,
257.
„ researches in caves near
Liege, 257.
Schoolcraft, history of Indian tribes
cited, 335, 412.
„ inscribed stone from Grave
Creek, 226.
„ North American Indians,
87.
INDEX.
509
Schoolcraft, North American Indians,
burial customs of, 87.
„ traces of fire in North
American tumuli, 202.
Schwab, Colonel, earthenware crescents
discovered by, 167.
„ lake-dwellings, 159.
„ implements from pile-
dwellings, 165.
Scioto valley, mounds in, 210, 218.
Scotland, shell-mounds in, 177.
Scrapers, flint, 71.
„ ,, used by Esquimaux, 7 1 .
Sculptured bones, horns, stones, etc.,
254.
Seals, Esquimaux method of killing,
403.
Section of Somme valley, at Abbeville,
286.
Segovia, remains of cave-bear in cave
near, 238.
Seine, flint implements found in valley
of, 271.
Semitic character of Bronze age orna-
mentation, 48.
Sepulchral mounds, 215.
„ pottery, 111.
Sewing by savages, 443.
Shell-mounds, 171.
„ absence of human bones
in, 188.
„ at Brigzes, 177.
„ at Meilgaard, 177.
„ bones of alca impennis
in, 181.
„ builders not mere sum-
mer visitors, 184.
„ character of the inhabi-
tantsof the period, 188
„ distribution of in Den-
mark, 174.
,, in Australia, 178.
„ in Cornwall and Devon-
shire, 178.
,, in Malay peninsula, 178.
„ in Scotland, 177.
„ in Tierra del Fuego,178.
„ remains of birds in, 181.
„ „ fish in, 181.
,, mammalia in,
181.
, ,, mollusca in,
179.
, , rhin oceros tichorinus and
elephas priraigenius,
remains of, not found
in, 239.
Steenstrup on skulls in,
172.
Shell-mounds, zostera marina in, 179.
Shelley, Mr., flint-finds near lteigate, 82
Shells found in shell-mounds, 179.
Shirley on crannoges in Ireland, 120.
Sicilian caves, 260.
„ „ animal remains in, 260.
Silbury Hill, 53.
Silver in ancient American tumuli, 201 .
Sin, 489.
Skeletons, position of, in tumulus on
the island of Moen, 106.
,, position of, in tumulus at
West Kennet, 108.
Skull, distortion of, by North American
Indians, 414.
„ „ Tahitians, 384.
Skulls, American forms of, 414.
,, from American mounds, 228.
,, from chambered tumuli of Great
Britain, 90.
„ from chambered tumuli of Scan-
dinavia, 90.
Sledges used by Esquimaux, 405.
Slesvick, iron implements found in peat
bogs of, 8.
Slingstones, 76.
Smith, Dr., on tin in Spain, 45.
Solitary meals, 382, 458.
Somme, alteration of course of, 310.
,, valley, geological formation of,
290.
„ „ section of at Abbeville,
286.
Sounds, used by savage tribes in lan-
guage, 457.
Spear- heads, flint, 75.
Spear, use of by Australians, 350,
Spiennes, flint-finds at, 82.
Spindle-whorls, 133.
Squier and Davis, contents of tumuli of
the Mississippi val-
ley, 134.
,, contents of sacrificial
mounds, 217.
„ date of ancient monu-
ments in valley of
the Mississipi,231.
„ defensive enclosures
in Ohio, 207.
„ inability of modern
Indian tribes to
erect earthworks,
229.
,, pipes in North Ame-
rican tumuli, 206.
„ on Bourneville en-
closure, Ohio, 207.
„ on North American
pottery, 204.
510
INDEX.
Squicr and Davis on sacred enclosures,
209.
„ on sacrificial mounds
in North America,
217.
, use of lead by North
American tribes,
201.
Squier, buildings of Floridians and the
southern tribes of North America,
214.
Stag, bones of in pile-dwellings, and
quaternary deposits, 282, note.
Staigue fort, Kerry, 50, 493.
Stcenstrup, animal remains in Danish
shell-mounds, 180.
„ contemporaneity of Kjok-
kenmoddings and Stone
age tumuli, 193.
„ domestic hog of ancient
Europe, 182.
„ flint axes, probable use of,
72.
„ flint implements from Kjok-
kenmoddings and tumuli,
193.
„ fracture of skulls of rumi-
nants found in ancient
deposits, 333.
„ mammalian remains in
shell-mounds, 181.
„ mutilated bones in shell-
mounds, 183.
„ shell-mounds, 172.
Stone age, 60.
„ brachycephalic forms of
skulls of, 116.
,, different stages of civiliza-
tion in, 60, 445.
„ domestic animals of, 114.
,, fabrics of, 137.
„ interments, 99.
„ pottery of, 135.
„ „ ornamentation of,
136.
„ sources of our knowledge
of, 63.
„ subdivisions of by Worsaae,
191.
„ Wright on, 61.
Stone circles, 85.
„ glass drilled by, 253.
,, hammers, use of by Australians,
350.
,, implements in Danish museums,
60, 61.
» ,, in Dublin, mineral-
ogical character
of, 63.
Stone implements in museum of Royal
Irish Academy,
61.
„ „ Wright on localities
where found, 35.
„ „ use of by Esqui-
maux, 406.
„ monuments, Scripture reference
to, 58.
Stonehenge, 50.
„ character of tumuli near,
102.
Strabo, voyages of Pytheas, 39.
Stukely, Abury and Stonehenge, 53,55.
Sufferings incident to savage life, 484.
Sus scrofa palustris, 145, 147.
Swiss lake-dwellings, fauna of, 140.
„ ,, flora of, 155.
Switzerland, lake-habitations of, 119.
,, lake -habitations of, au-
thorities, 124.
T.
Tahiti, 372.
„ character of inhabitants, 387-
„ tumulus in, 110, 385.
Tahitians, burial customs of, 384.
„ canoes of, 378.
„ clothing of, 376.
„ distortion of skull by, 384.
„ domestic animals of, 379.
„ fisb-hooks of, 374.
„ food of, 380.
,, houses of, 377.
„ ignorance of pottery, 378.
,, manufacture of bark cloth,
375.
,, musical instruments of, 378.
,, peculiar custom of, 388.
„ practice of infanticide by, 389
„ religious notions of, 386.
„ social customs of, 387.
„ tattooing by, 377.
„ tools of, 372.
„ weapons of, 379.
Tasmanians, 354.
,, manners and customs of, 354
„ Rev. T. Dove on moral con-
dition of, 465.
Tattooing practised by Andaman Island-
ers, 345.
» » Esquimaux, 408.
» » Feegeeans, 360.
» „ Maories, 367.
» „ Tahitians, 377.
Taylor on animal mounds, 222.
Teeth used as amulets, 80.
Temple mounds, 220.
INDEX,
511
Temples of Fecgeeans, 357.
Thorsbjerg, metal implements and coins
from, 10.
Thule, island of, 41.
Thunberg, customs of Hottentots, 339.
Thurnam, long barrowin Wiltshire, 107
Tiefenau, metal instruments from, 4, 7,
169.
Ticrradel Fuego, Darwin on inhabitants
of, 189.
,, inhabitants of, 432.
,, manners and customs
of, 432, 434.
„ women of, 433.
“ Tilhtig^ersteens,” 76.
Tiniere, deposits of, 316.
„ „ antiquities from,
316.
Tin, in Spain, 45.
„ Phoenician commerce in, 36, 46.
,, where found, 36, 45.
Tournal and Christol, association of
man and extinct animals, 257.
Torquemada, manufacture of dint im-
plements in Mexico, 78.
Tradition, small value of, 335.
Traffic, ignorance of, by Australians, 35 3
Trogontherium palfflospalax, remains of,
associated with cave-bear, 238.
Troyon, M., incineration of dead in
Switzerland during
Bronze age, 161.
„ inhabitants of Switzerland
in Bronze age, 161.
„ manufacture of stone axes,
132.
,, ornamentation of pottery
in Bronze age, 160.
„ on piles of Stone and
Bronze age, 138.
„ population of pile-dwell-
ings, 125, 281.
Tsehutski, winter habitations of, 88.
Tumuli, 83.
„ association of implements of
bronze and stone in, 62.
„ abundant in Denmark, 171.
„ Bateman, scripture reference
to, 86.
„ „ on British, 91.
, , chambered, rarity of in W estern
Europe, 91.
„ classical references to, 86.
,, in Otaheite, 110, 385.
,, in Southern States of America,
contents of, 215.
models of implements in, 98.
„ remains of horse in, 114.
rude flint implements in, 195.
Tumuli, teeth of oxen in, 115.
Tumulus at Goldhavn, 88.
„ in the island of Moen, 104.
,, „ pottery in,
106.
„ „ skeletons in,
106.
„ „ various im-
plements
in, 104.
Turanian race in Europe, 116.
Tylor, Anahuac cited, 78.
„ Early History of Mankind cited,
456.
Tyndall on Glaciers, 297.
U.
Umiak, 405.
Unity of human race, 476.
Upper-level gravels, Boucher de Per-
thes on, 300.
„ „ M. C. D’Orbigny
on, 300.
Upper pliocene beds, marked bones
from, 332.
Ursus speke us, 237.
Urus, 242.
„ geographical distribution of, 242.
„ mentioned by Caesar, 243.
„ mentioned in Niebelungen Lied,
243.
Utica, foundation of, 43.
Y.
Valand, myth of, 39.
Veddahs, 40, 343.
„ absence of religion amongst,
345.
„ domestic customs of, 344.
„ houses of, 343.
„ hunting buffalos of, 340, 344.
„ weapons of, 343.
Virtue, ideas of different, 458.
W.
Wace, cited, 51.
Wallace, burial customs of some Bra-
zilian tribes, 455.
„ the theory of natural selection
applied to man, 478.
Wampum, 227.
Wangen, flint implements from, 131.
,, ornamented pottery from, 136.
„ pile-dwelling at, 125, 129,
135.
„ rude fabrics from, 137.
512
INDEX
Wangen, various articles from, 163.
Water, transporting power of, 302.
Wauwyl, lake-habitations at, 127, 129,
152.
„ lake-habitations, animal re-
mains from, 141, 143, 166.
„ lake-habitations, implements
found at, 131, 133, 135,163.
Wayland Smith, myth of, 39.
Weald, denudation of, 328.
Weapons of Andaman Islanders, 345.
„ Australians, 350.
„ Esquimaux, 402.
„ Feegeeans, 356.
„ Fuegians, 432.
„ Hottentots, 340.
„ Maori es, 368.
„ North American Indians,
419.
„ Patagonians, 430.
„ Paraguay Indians, 426.
,, Tahitians, 379.
„ Veddahs, 343.
“ Weissgrund,” 130.
West Rennet, tumulus near, 107.
Wheat found in pile-dwellings, 153.
Whitburn, on flint implements from
Godaiming, 272.
Wilde, Sir W. It., classification of
arrow-heads, 77.
„ scarcity of copper
implements in
Ireland, 32.
,, stone implements
in museum of
Royal Irish
Academy, 63.
Wilkes, Capt., account of an Australian
funeral, 353.
„ practices of the Fee-
geeans, 361.
Wiltshire, ancient burials in, Sir R. C.
Hoare on, 92, 101.
„ tumulus in, described by
Thurnam, 107.
Williams, agriculture of Feegeeans, 358.
„ on Feegee Islanders, 356,
357, 359, 361, 363.
Wilson, antiquity of Mississippi valley
remains, 231.
„ belief in a future state by an-
cient Britons, 92.
Wilson on chambered tumuli, 90.
,, on Dighton rock, 226.
„ on Kumbecephalic skulls, 90.
„ on Modern use of Orkney cir-
cles, 56.
„ on Ornamentation of North
American pottery, 205.
,, position of ditch a distinguish-
ing characteristic of enclo-
sures, 209.
,, sacrificial mounds in North
America, 217.
Wisconsin, Lapham on ancient remains
in, 198.
„ „ forests in, 229.
Witchcraft, belief in by savages, 470.
Wokey Hole, 265.
,, „ remains found in, 265.
Women of Tierra del Fuego, 433.
„ social position of in savage
tribes, 460.
Worsaae, characters of Bronze and
Stone age tumuli, 99.
,, early inhabitants of Den-
mark, 117.
„ flint implements in shell-
mounds, 193.
„ limited use of early imple-
ments, 442.
„ subdivisions of Stone age,
191,
Wright on localities in which stone and
bronze implements have been
found, as evidence of their
antiquity, 35.
„ on Roman and Saxon remains,
11.
„ on Stone age, 61.
„ similarity of bronze implements
from different countries,
33.
Wummera, use of by Australians, 351.
Y.
Young ice, 41.
Yurt, Siberian, 88.
Z.
Zostera marina in shell-mounds, 179.
STEPHEN AUSTIN, PRINTER, HERTFORD.
July , 1865.
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